


Working for Achievement Hunter

by Queen_Nice_Dynamite



Series: Working at Achievement Hunter [1]
Category: Achievement Hunter, Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-10 12:38:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4392116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Nice_Dynamite/pseuds/Queen_Nice_Dynamite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Never a dull moment working for Achievement Hunter</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> First attempt at writing fic ever, but excited to share this with everyone. Enjoy this adventure!

As you enter the building you are greeted by a familiar sound. 

“Leeeeetsss Stop!” you hear Geoff shout followed by a chorus of laughter by the others, and you can’t help but to smile. 

It’s been about a year and a few months since you started working for Achievement Hunter and you still cannot believe you get to hear that at least once every Monday through Friday. You were proud to say that you were Steffie’s assistant for helping manages the guys and their hectic scheduling. Since you also had a degree in Human Resource Management, you also helped with accepting calls and emails from others in the company. It was the perfect job for you. 

You see that the “On Air” light has been switched off and all the guys are talking about the Minecraft let’s play that they just wrapped up. By chanting of “Team Nice Dynamite!” from Gavin and Michael, you assumed they won the team challenge planned for this week. 

As you walk into the room, you’re greeted by a big group “Hey, Y/N!” 

“Where have you been for the past couple of hours?” asked Jack. 

“Hey, guys! Sorry, I had a meeting with Steffie and Barbara about scheduling” you replied, sitting down on the couch. “We all wanted to go over next weeks’ plans. Gav, you’re up for the podcast on Monday. You should probably write a note on your desk so you won’t forget”. 

“Aw, come off it, I’ll remember this time” Gavin whined at you. 

“Yeah because Gus totally won’t be mad at you for running into the podcast 10 minutes late like you did last week” Michael said rolling his eyes and punching Gavin in the shoulder. 

“Alright, alright, fine” Gavin grumbled and he scrawled a note and stuck it to his monitor. 

“Thanks, Gav!” you said smiling, though in your head you made a mental note to come into their office an hour before the podcast started to re remind him since you knew the note would end up in the garbage Monday morning. 

“So, any fun plans this week?” Geoff asked. “Millie’s out of town with her grandparents for the weekend so Griffon and I want to get up into some trouble while she’s gone.” He said winking at you. 

“Well, this Sunday I’m moving out of Jack’s and Caiti’s, so you could always help me!” you said, beaming. You finally managed to get your own apartment.

“Yeah, don’t remind me” sulked Jack. He was taking your move a little harsh. 

Caiti and he offered you their refurbished basement in their house until you could find your own place. Jack became like a big brother to you, and Caiti the best friend you never had throughout school. As much as you loved living with them, you wanted to give them their own space too after a year of dealing with you as a third wheel. They always said that you didn’t have to bother looking for a place for years, but you knew that they both wanted to start trying to have a baby soon, so you thought you should head out before that whole process began. 

“What’s the matter Jack, don’t like the thought of you wittle sister being a big girl and moving out in the scary world all by her lonesome?” mocked Michael in a baby tone. Jack proceeded to throw a pillow at his head but Michael ducked quickly enough and instead, the pillow knocked Gavin’s phone out of his hand. 

“Oi, I just got done replacing this thing!” Gavin yelped as he dove to grab his phone before Michael kicked it farther away from him. 

“Hey!” Geoff says as he stood up and stretched from sitting for so long. “Why don’t you guys throw an away party for her on Saturday night and then whoever gets so drunk they have to stay can help move the rest of the things to Y/N’s place?” Geoff was always up for a good party if it meant that it wasn’t at his house and he could get drunk off of free liquor. 

“Geoff, you realize that makes you the main man helping me move right?” You tease with a smile. All the others guys chuckled, even Ryan who just got done double checking that everyone’s audio and video were okay from the let’s play they just got done filming. Your heart slightly constricts in your chest when you hear his low melodic laugh, but you try not to let yourself blush as he turns around and faces everyone else. 

Even though Michael was the main reason you started watching Let’s Plays because of Rage Quit (and Michael knew that, and teased you about it every chance he could) Ryan was one of the reasons you really got hooked; especially from GTA and the Mad King series. However, out of everyone in the office, Ryan and you talked the least, much to your disappointment; there was rarely an occasion you needed to talk with him. Out of everyone in Achievement Hunter, Ryan had himself together the most. You never had to remind him of meetings or about the Patch. The only times you’ve had to really come in contact business wise was either when Meg, Ashley or Gus couldn’t make the Patch on short notice and you’d have to go let him know. But almost every day you two ate lunch together since you two were really the only two who didn’t leave the office for lunch often. His reason was he didn’t like to drink or eat out often, and yours was because you’ve been saving up for the move. You enjoyed your lunches with him. You guys didn’t talk the whole time; you both were comfortable with each other’s silence. But when you two did talk, it was always engaging conversations. It never ceased to impress you that someone so intelligent was spending his days goofing off with other hooligans. Not that the other guys weren’t intelligent, just Ryan had his own level of maturity and dignity. However, Jack would insist that you go out with the guys once a week and he’d always pay for you (unless Gavin owed you from a bet… which wasn’t uncommon). 

You shake your head and come back to reality when Michael is about to smack you with a pillow and is saying “Earth to Y/N, Earth to Y/N, come in, come in” You grab the pillow and pull him down on the couch next to you. If Jack was your big brother, Michael certainly acted like the obnoxious little brother. 

“Jackass” you mutter at him, to which he just laughs and pulls you into a hug. 

“Well while you were zoning out, we were talking about who to invite” Jack says as he gives you a quizzical look. You weren’t one for being unfocused, but you have a feeling that Jack suspects your reasons. 

“Well, will Caiti be okay with it?” You ask. You never want to put her and Jack at an inconvenience. 

“Nah she’ll love it! She wanted us to take you somewhere nice tomorrow night anyways as a surprise, but I like this idea instead” Jack smiled. 

“Oh” you say, cheeks slightly pinking at the kindness of your friend. “It’s still short notice, so I don’t know who can make it”

“Fucking Griffon and I will be there that’s more than enough” Geoff argues as he starts packing his bag. 

“Yeah Linds and I can definitely make it. Our unpacking officially ended a couple weeks ago” said Michael. He turns to Gavin who is texting Meg, probably about this party. “Ready to get bevved up this weekend, boi?”

“You bet!” Gavin says smiling as his phone goes off. “Meg’s totally in, too!” 

“Well, I think I’ll send out an email to everyone before they leave for the day” you replied checking your watch. It’s 3 pm, and usually everyone leaves around 5 for the day, but since today was Friday, they only record Minecraft and VS, which today would be Jack vs. Gavin. “Jack, I’ll be in my office so once you’re done with VS, come pick me up so we can head out. I’ll also let Caiti know plans.” 

You get up off the couch and head to your office that you share with Steffie. You see that she isn’t back from the other building and assume that she may have left for the day from there. Your office isn’t huge, by any means, but it’s cozy. Your desks are on opposite sides of the rectangular room with a big bean bag in the middle for whoever visits… or wants to take a nap on it, which is ridiculously common. It’s a little safe haven for everyone, even those in the other building. 

You sit at your desk and begin to type out the email to everyone and message everyone you can think of inviting and telling those who receive it to spread the word. As you send the message and wait for responses, you call Caiti about the plans. 

“Ah! Sounds amazing! We’ll have to stock up on alcohol and grab some kind of sandwich platters but sounds amazing! Want to go with me to the store when you two get home?” replies Caiti. 

“Sounds good to me. I think I may need to get a new outfit for the occasion” you laugh into the phone. 

“Oh my god, yes! We’ll leave Jack behind and have girl time! It’s unfair he sees you more than me before you go” Caiti says sounding a little sad at the end. 

“Caiti, don’t forget you’re spending next weekend in the apartment with me. We’ll still see each other lots. The apartment complex is 15 minutes away from you” 

Caiti laughs and agrees and says she is going to call for the grocery store to make a few cakes for the party, and hangs up. You see that you already have a few responses from people such as Ashley who responds that she and Burnie will be there, Gus says he’ll go only if he doesn’t have to help move anything the next day, but will pass the word onto Esther. Others like Kerry, Miles, and Caleb also respond. So, it seems like it’ll be a big party.

You hear a knock on your office door. Wow, that was fast for VS., you think. It’s only been 10 minutes or so. “Hey, come on in Jack, I’m just packing up stuff”. 

The door opens but it’s not Jack, its Ryan. Your heart begins to pound and your eyes widen in shock. He typically doesn’t come into your office. 

“Hey, Y/N” he says smiling as he walks in. 

You blink a couple times then smile “uh, hello Ryan. Something I can help you out with?” you ask, trying to sound a little professional since you don’t know why he would come into your office. 

“Oh I just had a question about something.” He says as he sits on the giant bean bag couch in front of you. He slightly leans forward and puts his hands on his lap. 

“umm” you stutter. Get a hold of yourself, you think. “What can I do for you?”

He laughs “I was just wondering if you guys need help moving your stuff on Sunday. I’ve got nothing going on, and I know that a hung-over Geoff will not be that much of a help to you.” 

You laugh, because it’s true. Geoff will be one cranky mother fucker come Sunday and completely regret what he said earlier. “I mean, I know that Michael will be in the same boat as Geoff. As for Gavin, I mean, drunk or sober, the boys not much help” you tease. 

“Well I figured I could bring my truck to help with some of the stuff. More cars can’t hurt.” Ryan says shrugging his shoulders slightly.

“Thanks for the offer. We could use another vehicle. In fact, I think we could cram everything into four cars because Gavin and Meg are going to be riding with Michael and Lindsay, plus Geoff’s car, Jack’s and your truck, we should be okay. My car has been at the repair shop for the past couple days.” You respond as you stand.

“Alright, sounds good.” Ryan says as you follow him out the door. You can hear the screams from the AH room down the hall. Someone must have won. 

“Oh by the way” Ryan says stopping and turning around to you as you bump right into him and stumble. Balance wasn’t always your strongest suit. “Whoops” he chuckles as he grabs your arm.

You feel your face go beet red, unsure if it’s from embarrassment or the fact that Ryan is touching you. “Sorry about that.” You grumble. 

He continues to laugh. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it.” He smiles. Ugh, that smile. It makes his bright blue eyes stand out even more. “I was also going to ask- am I invited to the party tomorrow?” He asks while arching an eyebrow and a slight smirk. 

“Um, of course you are? Why wouldn’t you be?” you ask out of confusion. 

“No one said anything to me in the room so I just wanted to check”

“Oh my god, I’m sorry!” you fluster. “I thought you’d assume! Of course you’re invited. Everyone else doesn’t shut up enough to let anyone else get a word in.” 

“Trust me, after a few years, I’m used to that.” Ryan says. “I just wanted to hear you actually say I’m invited and not show up like an idiot”. 

“No, no you’re fine! I want you there.” You smile sincerely at him. Your heart is pounding out of your chest. You slightly realize how small the hallway seems all of a sudden. 

There was a couple seconds of silence that seemed to last for minutes as you both stood in the narrow hallway looking at each other. You tried to look down at your paperwork but were too busy being distracted the fact your face is right at chest height for him. And even though he’s wearing a simple navy shirt, you can certainly tell that the old model body is hidden in the folds of the fabric. You bring your face back up to look at his. Big mistake. Those piercing eyes captivate yours along with that smirk…. All of a sudden you snap back into reality. 

“Erm, we should probably get going into the room” you mutter as you side step around him. 

You both enter as Geoff is wrapping up the VS outro and all of a sudden Michael shouts “Whoa a wild Ryan and Y/N appear! Where have you two been canoodling off to?!” Michael devilishly grins as Kdin turns the camera to you and Ryan in the door. You hate being physically on camera but Ryan just walks past and smiles at you then winks to the camera. All the guys start ooohing and whistling at you except for Jack who shakes his head at the rest of the crew.

“Michael” you say in your sickening sweet voice as he his laugh falters. “I don’t care who it is next week for VS but it might have to be me and you if you don’t quit your shit” The guys erupt into laughter around you, even Gavin, who has been sulking because he apparently lost. 

“Awe shit, are we gonna see a brand new contender next week? Find out on next VS” Geoff says and then Kdin shuts off the camera, and everyone just roars with laughter except for Michael who has a look of fear and determination on his face. Geoff is cracking up which causing you to smile a little and roll your eyes, which find a way to lock with Ryan’s who is shaking his head at you while packing his back pack for the day. 

“Jesus Christ” Geoff says. “Please tell me that you’re going to debut in VS next week. I’m sure the audience will LOVE seeing you on screen and not Jack!” 

“Oh no” you say as Jack says “Hey, that’s mean!” “I don’t do videos, unless it’s just an announcement or a minor background walk in, but after today”- you say as you shoot a glare to Michael as he snickers back at you-“I’m not so sure I’ll even do that. I was hired to herd you critters to where you need to be, and help Steffie with office work.” You try to keep a serious face but everyone sees right through it and smirks back at you, causing you to slightly giggle. 

“Alright, we’ll see next Friday what you have to say” Geoff says as he starts making his way to the door. “I’ll see you guys all tomorrow!” 

“Yeah, Jack we need to head out soon too. Caiti wants me to go shopping with her for a last girl’s night out before the move” you say as Jack is gathering his jacket and hat. 

“What?! I’m not invited?!” exclaimed Jack as he turned to face you as he put on his jacket. He actually looked hurt. “It’s our last official night all together and you girls are going to take off without me?” 

“Caiti probably wants to bitch about you behind your back, Jack” Gavin said cheekily, but Jack ignores him. 

“Well, we were going clothes shopping and getting stuff for the party I didn’t know if you wanted to join in!” you explained. You really didn’t expect Jack to object. “You hate clothes shopping because all your shirts are free through here.” 

“Yeah, well, I’m coming tonight.” Jack says decidedly. “We’re going to have our nice dinner tonight since tomorrow is party night. No, don’t protest. I will suffer shopping with my two favorite girls since it’s one of the last times-“

“For fucks sake Jack, I’m not dying!” You scold. Your emotions are starting to get the best of you after being alone with Ryan and now Jack acting like a nagging older brother. “You will see me Monday-Friday, and you know we’ll still have family pizza and game night and do everything like we have been for the past year. I just won’t be sleeping at your house.” Your voice starts to hitch and eyes sting. Fuck I didn’t want this in front of the other guys. Out of the corner of your eyes you see them staring between you and Jack, feeling a little uncomfortable at the small confrontation. “Jack, I love Caiti and you to death but I don’t want to feel like a burden or that you two have to take care of me for the rest of your lives. I’m a big girl and can handle myself.”

Jack comes over and pulls you into a huge bear hug and apologizing “I know you’re not dying, you goof. I’m just gonna miss having you around all the time. And your Caiti’s best friend so it’s just going to be hard for all of us”

You return the hug and all of a sudden Jack pulls you off the ground and both start laughing, and Michael and Gavin look relieved that the argument is done and continue packing, but when you look over to Ryan, you can’t tell what he’s thinking. He clearly witnessed the whole thing occur. Again, your cheeks get pink and you cast your eyes down but you see him gently smiling at you.

But Jack puts you down and smiles at your while ruffling your hair. “Shall we get going home?”

“Yeah, Caiti will probably kill us if we take too long.” Jack picks up his messenger bag from the ground and waves at everyone before heading out. 

“Y/N, Meg wants to know what time to be over tomorrow?” Gavin asks before you head out the door. 

You turn around and think for a second. “You guys can all come over earlier than the rest of the party. I’m assuming everyone else won’t be there until 8, 8:30, so feel free to be over at 7:30 or so. We should be all ready and set by then.” You say while looking at the three still in the room, but Michael and Gav are busy packing to see you look around. You notice that Ryan is still looking at you. “If, if you want to” you finished, but more towards Ryan than the other two. 

Of course Michael turned around to see the exchange and couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut. “Yeah, Haywood, you actually might want to sleep in, rest up and come later than everyone else because she might need you for things that will entail later in the night” 

That’s it. You lunge towards him and start punching the absolute shit out of him. “Michael I swear to God-“you don’t finish and keep wailing on him. 

“Jesus, you have a strong arm” Michael says rubbing his shoulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I’ll keep the innuendos to a dull roar”

You roll your eyes at him muttering curse words under your breath as you head to the door. 

“See you tomorrow for bevs!” calls out Gavin. You just wave a hand behind you, but as you close the door you see Ryan smiling at you, and you promptly shut the door. 

You find Jack outside talking with Matt and Jeremy about some new game. 

“What took so long?” Jack asks as he catches up with you since you walked right by him. 

“Had to do a weekly beating on Michael” you say, slightly smirking. I almost hope I left him a bruise. It’d serve him right for being such a wise ass.

Jack simply chuckles since he’s so used to you giving the smack down on Michael. “So Disney music jam session on the way home?” Jack inquires.

“You fucking bet.” 

As you open the door and settle in the car, you hear your phone buzz in your pocket. When you look down to your phone you eyes widen. It’s a text from Ryan. 

"I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the party."

Now it really has to be tomorrow night.


	2. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is bound to happen when the company gets together for your party.

You were almost ready for the party when the doorbell rang.

You were still in your room doing some last minute touches to your makeup when suddenly- 

“What’s up, bitch- oh shit, sorry Caiti!” from Geoff followed by laughter from Jack and another woman’s laugh that you assumed to be Griffon’s. 

You hurry up the stairs and greet both Geoff and Griffon and see that Geoff has two bottles of Jack in each hand. 

“These are mine and mine only, do you hear me? I’ve been looking forward to a drunken weekend for ages! It’s time to get bombed toniiight!” Geoff declared to the room. Griffon lovingly rolled her eyes at her husband and replied “so then what makes this weekend different from any other weekend?” 

As they are settling on the couch, Caiti walks to the backyard and turns on the speaker system with catchy music that anyone in a mile radius must be able to feel the rhythmic bass. 

Soon after, you hear another car enter the driveway. As you step onto the porch you see a SUV come to a halting stop as Gavin tumbles out of the driver’s seat. Michael is already swearing his ass off at Gavin. By the looks of it, Gavin somehow managed to convince Michael to let him practice for his driver’s test. From the shouting from Michael, Lindsay and Meg cracking up hysterically, and Gavin’s feeble “But Micoo-“, it doesn’t seem to have gone very well. 

“I see everything and everyone is in one piece at least” you call out to the couples walking up the sidewalk. 

“I didn’t do that badly!” protested Gavin. 

“You mother fucker, you hit almost every single curb on the way here!” Michel yelled as the girls nodded their heads and giggled even more. 

“Jesus sounds like you all could use a drink” Geoff says as he appears and starts handing out Jack and Cokes. “Gav, maybe you’re a better driver drunk than sober!” 

“Oh no, another Happy Hour video in the works!” Jack joked. 

Everyone laughs as they get comfortable in the house. As you look around the room, you discover you’re surrounded by happy coupled and you feel a slight pang of loneliness in your chest. You slightly craved the settled down lifestyle, and your thoughts begin to travel to Ryan and how he’s going to be the last of the main AH crew to show up… and you can’t help but to replay yesterday’s encounter in your head… 

As if he read your mind, Michael pipes up “Say, Y/N, did Haywood take my advice and is resting up for the big shebang you’re gonna give him later tonight?” 

“Michael, what the fuck did I do to you yesterday when you made these kind of comments?” you feel yourself start to blush as everyone but Caiti exchange looks. Caiti simply eyes you sympathetically with a small smile. She knows about your feelings about Ryan. 

“Yeah, I have a bruise the size of Texas on my arm, thank you!” Michael rolls up his T-shirt sleeve. Ouch. There was a solid purple splotch on his arm. You feel a mix of guilt and pride that you left such a mark. 

“Oh my god, please tell me that next VS will be a beat down on Michael from you” Geoff begs.

You shake your head as you pick up your drink and take a long swig. It’s gonna be one hell of a night

The party was now in full swing. It seemed that majority of the company was at this party, and it seemed like every was truly enjoying themselves, even sulky Gus. 

You felt a slight buzz from how many shots you’ve done with the lads but the party fun also contributes to the high you feel. It feels good to be surrounded by people you care about having such a fun time. Although you still have yet to run into a certain someone. 

You saw Ryan enter the house through the sliding porch door but as you made your way to greet him, Caiti pulled you to the patio that was being used as a dance floor. She was a genius with the music playlist. The party started with some fun ambiance music then gradually became more rhythmic and soon everyone was jamming out to the awesome music.  
You can’t help but to join in for a few songs. 

While finishing dancing to a particularly up bear song, Caiti starts smirking wickedly. “You’ll never guess who was just staring at you the whole time we just danced” and you see her eyes stare over her shoulder and her smiles widens as your face drains from color. 

Oh no, of all people. You turn around and there he was staring right at you, with a smile on his face while Meg and Ashley are standing at his sides laughing and waving at you. Sheepishly you smile and give a slight wave, which he returns while the girls beckon you over. You turn to look at Caiti like a deer in headlights to which she shakes her head and slightly pushes you in his direction. 

"Crap, crap crap. I probably look like an idiot and they’re just going to laugh at me. Oh my god of all things to happen tonight" you think as you make your way through the throng of people. 

“Hi guys!” You feign total confidence and cheer. 

“Oh hey, Y/N so glad you could join us for a mini party Patch meet up!” Ashley slightly slurs while Meg giggles. The girls seemed a little sloshed. Ryan, who is just drinking his soda, gives a small laugh. 

“Ready for today’s subject?” Ashley continues. “It’s a doozy! Let’s discuss how you and Ryan are the only two single folks in Achievement Hunter!” 

You face flares beet red and you notice Ryan gets slightly pink at the ears too. Odd, you’ve never seen Ryan look even remotely embarrassed before. 

“Yeah, and how you’re a girl and he’s a guy and you two would be the cutest couple out of all of us” Meg responds when all of a sudden Gavin is in ear shot and goes “Wot?!”  
Meg laughs as Gavin pulls her away from the three of you to kiss and both stumble over to the dance floor. 

“Well, I’m just going to leave that thought in both of your heads. Ryan, I think I’ve done my job” Ashley state as she goes to hunt for Burnie who is joking around with Jack, Gus, and Esther. 

You turn to look out at Ryan in confusion. “What was that about?” you say as you stand next to him. “What did she mean that she did her job?”Ryan simply smiles and said “yeah she didn’t do it in a way that I preferred, but I wanted her to get you over here somehow and keep you around” 

“Oh… well, here I am.” You say slightly distracted. 

He looked really good, which wasn’t really out of the ordinary for him. He was wearing his usual jeans and shirt, but the shirt seemed a little snugger on him than ones he wears in the office and the model muscles were definitely more exposed. 

“Yes, here you are” Ryan echoed. You look up to him and see him smirking and giving you a slight questioning look. Crap. He totally saw you blatantly checking him out. You start regretting the shots that Michael had you do earlier. 

You clear your throat and change your view to one of the party “So are you enjoying yourself?” trying to sound like a polite hostess. 

“I am now” he states. Out of the corner of your eye you see he’s still staring at you… put his gaze shifts up and down ever so slightly. 

“Well that’s good!” you say genuinely happy. You’re glad he’s enjoying yourself; even more so if it means because you’re around. “Is there anything I can get for you or anything like that?” You look at his can of soda. “Do you want another? I can grab one from the kitchen for you-“

“Nah you’re fine” he smiles. “I actually brought my own stash for the night. It’s in my car so no one else can get to it. I know how Geoff likes his Jack and Coke” 

As soon he finished that statement, you both turn to see Geoff on the diving board about to jump into the pool, fully clothed because he forgot his swimsuit at home. Michael, Lindsay, Griffon and a few others, didn’t forget theirs and are enjoying the swim. 

You and Ryan both laugh at the ridiculous belly flop Geoff does. As you turn to look at him you say “That’s smart about your own stash. I should definitely think of that for the office so he isn’t always stealing mine from the fridge” 

“You’ll learn the tricks of the trade pretty quickly in that office” Ryan teases back and you laugh one again. 

“Hey, Y/N!” you hear someone yell at you. You both turn and see Michael just a few feet away, soaking wet from the pool. 

“Michael…” you warn him, unsure of what he’s about to say, especially since you and Ryan are hanging out alone. 

“Can I just say that you’re just such a good friend of mine?” Michael says tripping over lawn furniture as he makes his way closer to you “You know, I just want to give you a biiiig hug” 

“Michael, NO” You yelp and you try to get away, but too late. Michael has you wrapped in a big bear hug and is dragging you towards the pool. 

*SPLASH* you both go diving in. As you come up for air, you hear everyone cheering and whistling, and Michael says “Fuck yeah I win this round of VS!” and you can’t help but to join in laughing. Even though it was a nice dress, your hair and makeup is a mess now, you feel elated. 

As you swim over to the side to get out. Ryan is reaching out his hand with a towel in the other arm trying his hardest not to laugh at you. So you make a snap decision. 

“Ryan, can you reach a little lower? This dress is heavy in the water” you say innocently. 

He takes the bait and you grab his hand and pull him in. “What the-“ is all he can get out before he tumbles in. 

Now everyone is jumping in the pool fully clothed. Jack carries Caiti in and cannon balls, Meg tries to drag Gav in but he ends up twirling her in but he didn’t let go and she comes toppling in after her. Almost the rest of the party follows suit, except for Risinger who is laughing his ass off and taking photos of everyone. 

Ryan swims over to you as you beam at him. “I didn’t know you had that in you” he says laughing. 

“I’m full of surprises sometimes” you respond with a wink.

All of a sudden you feel his arms around your waist and he lifts you slightly out of the water just to toss you back in. “So am I” he retorts with an evil grin. 

After a few minutes of splashing around, people start getting out of the pool and start dancing around to try and dry off slightly. 

“Okay, I must admit, this dress is a bit heavy in water” as you try to wade your way to the steps as Ryan is slightly ahead of you. 

He turns back and offers his hand but as you’re about to take it he pulls back slightly. “Truce?” he says with a grin. 

“Truce, truce, I want to dry off a bit” You promise as he gives you his hand. 

Even when you guys get out of the water and are walk towards the deck, you hands are still intertwined. You look down slightly at them, and your confidence from the pool starts to fade. You look up at him and yet again, he’s there smirking at you, and you know why. He’s also completely aware that your hands are still linked together. You heart starts beating more than you can bear; the confident you is pretty much gone. 

“I’m going to change, this dress is too heavy on” you rush to say as you quickly let go of his hand and make your way to your bedroom before he gets another word in.

When you get there, you find your bedroom significantly quieter than the upstairs, but you can still feel the walls shake from the bass of the music.  
You throw the dress into your bathroom tub to help it dry, and you put on a pair crappy shorts and a t shirt. You don’t have that much of variety out since most of your clothes are packed away already. As you look at yourself in the mirror, you see your makeup and hair is a complete mess. You groan as you try to fix it up a little. 

“Y/N?” you hear Caiti say your name and knock on your door. 

“Come in!” you reply as you’re putting your hair in a high bun. 

“There you are!” She says as she enters your room and sits on the bed. You make a despairing look at her as she’s also wet from the pool. So she joins you in the bathroom and starts wringing out her hair in the sink. “How are you enjoying yourself tonight?”

“It’s been a great party so far!” you say as you start thinking about the pool and Ryan. You two have never really interacted in that kind of way before, but embarrassment aside, you really enjoyed it. 

“I saw you and Ryan walking around” Caiti says eyeing your reaction in the mirror. “What was that about? You know he’s waiting for you out on the deck, right?” 

“Why? I told him I was going to change?” you say ask you’re fixing your makeup and doing a once over before getting ready to go back out. Your outfit isn’t great but it’ll have to do for now. 

Caiti also looks at you and cringes, distracted by your ensemble.”Wait, you’re not wearing that out there, are you? Ryan hasn’t looked away from you all night you’re not going out in that.”

She goes over to your closet and is fishing through your few clothes. She pulls out a pair of black high waist black skirt and a purple top to wear with it. You groan at the sight of that outfit.

“Caiti I’m not wearing that either. I wore that when you had the terrible idea of going to the club to try and find me someone” you cringe at the memory of that night. 

“Okay yeah that night wasn’t a hot one for you, but now there is someone out there for you to impress and this outfit will do the trick! Now get dressed and wear your pumps with it. I’ll see you on the dance floor.” Caiti bounds out of your room and closes the door. 

You shake your head at the outfit but put it on anyways. But even you had to admit, you looked good. It was flattering with the pumps. So, you put on a brave face and head back to the party. 

You realize that everyone is looking at you as you walk around the house. 

“Ow, ow Y/N, lemme get a piece of that!” Meg cat calls at you and gives you a wink. 

When you get to the deck and you look around and you see him staring at you with an eyebrow raised and a big smile. 

He meets you at the bottom of the stairs and simply says “If I knew this is what you were going to change into, I would’ve pushed you in the pool myself” 

You laughed nervously at his joke. It had to be a joke right? You didn’t look that good, for goodness sake. 

“You’ll be the next one in line after Meg apparently” You say smiling at him. 

As you both begin walking around, the music stops for a second as you see Caiti fiddling with the iPod that was plugged in the speakers. All of a sudden, a sultry slow dance come on and, that bitch, you think as she gives you thumbs up. 

Most of the couples at the party start pairing up and head to the floor to dance, and Ryan looks at you. “Are you okay?” You feel slightly flushed because you knew Caiti’s intentions with the song. 

“Oh, yeah, fine.” You lie. “Just need to find Caiti and talk with her for a sec”. You start to move away from him but you feel his hands on your waist, forbidding you to move. 

“Before you do that” Ryan says as he turns you around “care to dance?” he smiles devilishly at you. 

“I’m not that good of a dancer, really”

“I beg to differ” he says as he pulls you into a dancing position. “I saw you earlier and you were just fine then. Call this making up for throwing me in the pool” 

He pulls you close and you know you’re not going anywhere. Instead of being scared and wanting to flee, you allow yourself to press against him and let him lead. 

You’re proud of yourself for not stumbling around like an idiot as you both dance. With the heels on, you’re just a tad shorter that him, so you can easily look into those blazing eyes of his. And for once, you don’t feel the need to look away, so you simply stare, as he does as well. 

“So… are you enjoying yourself?” Ryan asked in murmured tones. No one was really around you two, but he kept quiet so no one could hear. 

“Mmhmm” is all you managed to get out as he smiles. You feel your breath slightly hitch as he pulls you in slightly closer from the waist. 

“So am I. I’m glad that we’ve spent as much time as we have tonight. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while now” He practically purrs as he rests his forehead against yours. 

“Ryan… what are you doing?” you ask. You feel like you’re drowning into a wonderful pool without any means of coming up for air. 

“I think you slightly get the hint.” You feel his hand let go of yours and lightly puts it on your cheek. “Is this something you want?” he looks at you with a slight hesitation, not wanting to come on too fast. 

“I… I think so, yes” you breathlessly say as you stare steadily into his face that breaks into a smile. 

A low chuckle comes out of him as he says “Good. I’m glad” 

Just when you two get closer, a waltzing Michael and Gavin knock into you, making you and Ryan clash heads terribly hard. 

“S’cuse us, s’cuse us!” they both say as they continue to waltz until the end of the song. 

The glare that you give them would completely petrify them if they were looking. You look back at Ryan who is slightly rubbing his head and just laughs. You can’t help but to giggle when you hear his laugh. It’s slightly contagious. 

As you look around, you notice that no one really noticed your dance with Ryan, which was to your slight relief. You notice that everyone is starting to slightly pick up their stuff and start heading to the door. 

Jack sees you with Ryan standing to the side and calls you over to say good bye to people. 

“Um, are you spending the night?” You ask as your look at Ryan. He looked a little astonished at your question, and you realized what it sounded like you were asking him. “Oh, I mean, everyone who is helping with the move is spending the night, and you said that you were going to help so I just figured instead of heading home that you….” You trail off. 

He bellows a laugh. “You should really see your face right now” he says. “But sure. I’ll stay.”

“Okay” you say as you feel relief. You really didn’t want him to leave after that moment. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” 

“Take your time” 

It takes a little while to say goodbye to everyone and that you’ll see them on Monday, but the house is finally empty. You’re pleased to see that the house isn’t in terrible condition, until you see Michael and Gavin, pulling your mattress up from your room and plopping it down on the living room floor. 

“What are you doing?!” You scold to them as the start bouncing around.

“Wot, we figured it had to be up here for the move tomorrow, so might as well do it now and sleep on it!” Gaving said as he bounces on the bed. 

“Yeah this is a fucking nice bed, girl” Michael says he joins Gavin. 

“Guys, maybe the poor girl wanted to sleep in her room for the last night” Lindsay said. “On behalf of my husband, I apologize” she shakes her head at the two.

“It’s fine; we can all have a sleepover” You smile. It’d be fun to just all relax before the move. 

“Not for us” Jack says with an arm around Caiti. They both looked beat. “We’re just going to sleep in our bed. Try to keep it to a dull roar. Night, guys” 

Caiti gives you a wink as Ryan stands behind you, and grabs your hand. Of course, Caiti sees as she walks up the stairs and gives you a big smile. You shake your head slightly with a smile and just simply mouth “Thank you” to her. She understands what you mean, nods, and heads up the stairs. 

Geoff and Griffon both come in from the back yard. Geoff looks a little worse for wear, but Griffon still looks good. She probably didn’t drink too much. 

“We’re going to sleep in our truck. We put a mattress back there when we travel” She explains as she’s dragging Geoff. 

“We’re gonna fuuuuuck” Geoff slurs as he tries to kiss his wife on the cheek, but she dodges and says “No way in hell there, bud”. As she closes the front door, you hear Geoff whining. 

“Okay, so how is sleeping going to work?” Meg asks. She sounds pretty exhausted, so must be the alcohol was wearing off fast.

“I don’t know about you girls but I’m sleeping right here on the bed” Michael says as he plops down and stretches. 

“Where the hell are Ryan and Y/N going to sleep then?” Lindsay asks as she looks at you two. 

“Oh, um… we weren’t going to… sleep together” you struggle to spit out. The fact that the thought tumbled out of Lindsay’s mouth like it was no big deal surprised you. It’s not like anyone knew what happened tonight. But then you realize that Ryan’s arm was now around your waist and she must have put it together. She was a very observant girl. 

“Sorry, Rye-Bread, no shebang for you tonight!” Michael snickered. 

“Shut up, Michael” You and Ryan said at the same time, which only made Michael laugh harder. You looked at Ryan and he just winked back at you. 

“Well” you say. “Michael and Lindsay can have my bed, Gavin and Meg can take the big couch and Ryan….” You look around the room. You see the large chaise is still available.“You can take the chaise and I’ll just sleep on the floor or something. I don’t mind” you shrug. You really don’t. You probably won’t be sleeping much after the night’s events anyways.

“I want to be on the bed, though!” Gavin pouted at you. 

“Gav can sleep on the bed with Michael, for all I care” Lindsay shrugged as she went on the opposite end of the couch from Meg. “Meg and I can fit on the couch just fine”. 

“Micoo, it’s a sleepover!” Gavin says as he almost jumps down Michael’s face. 

You laugh as you head over to the television and put on a movie for all of you to watch and fall asleep to. You chose the Lion King, because it’s one of your favorites. As the opening starts, Michael and Gavin attempt to sing along, but it’s horrendous. 

You mouth feels dry from so much talking today so you move to the kitchen to drink water before you get settled on the floor. As you’re taking a drink you see Ryan enter the kitchen. 

“Do you really think that I’ll let you sleep on the floor while I have that big chaise to myself?” Ryan asks quizzically. 

“I just wanted to be nice” you respond. “I’m not going to put a guest on the floor in my house.” 

“To be fair, you’re going to be a guest in this house in a few hours” Ryan counters. 

Oh. You didn’t think about how this really your last night is in this house. It suddenly hits you that you have a very limited time to call this place home, and you feel your eyes slightly sting as you turn away from him to clean the glass out and put away. 

“Wait no that came out wrong” Ryan says as you hear him walking towards you. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that rudely, I’m so sorry, I know you’re going to miss it here I just meant that you deserve the chaise too” Ryan continues to babble as he hugs you from behind. 

“No, no it’s okay.” You smile a little and turn to face him. “Really, it’s kind that you didn’t want me uncomfortable” you smile a bit bigger, knowing he was just trying to be nice to you. It felt good that he cared. 

“No, I don’t. So why don’t we just share the chaise?” Ryan says as relief floods his face since you’re not mad. He extends his hand for you to take.

“Sounds good.” you say as you take his hand. 

He quickly pulls you close for a hug, and after you freeze for an instant, you melt into his embrace. 

“Some night, huh?” he mumbles into your hair. “Come on, let’s share that chaise” Ryan says as he pulls your hand, and you willingly enter the room where everyone else is sleeping. 

It’s a night you don’t intend to forget your whole life


	3. Moving Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang helps you with the move

You woke up on the chaise alone. 

Blearily, you look around the room, remembering everything that happened last night. 

Wow… that actually happened?... But then… As you look around the room, there isn’t any sign of him. 

As you look at the entertainment center, you see that the TV has been turned off, and the clock reads 9:08. Ugh. Only 6 hours of sleep doesn’t feel like it’ll be enough for the move ahead. 

You sit up in the chaise and feel slightly sore, so you stretch slightly. You see that Lindsay and Meg are sleeping peacefully on the couch, and their significant others… you stifle a snort. 

Gavin and Michael are completely intertwined together on your bed. They are facing each other, both with their arms flopped over the other’s waist. Gavin is gently snoring, causing Michael’s hair to move slightly. You reach over to the coffee table and snap a quick picture on your phone. You’re sure that you can use the blackmail against them at some point in the future. It was also just slightly adorable. 

You tilt your head towards the ceiling to hear if either Caiti or Jack are up, and you hear the shower running, so you assume that either one, if not both are getting ready for the day. You also smell coffee being brewed. 

Maybe Ryan’s making some coffee? You think as you weave between the furniture and sleeping people, making your way to the kitchen. He’s not a coffee drinker…

To your slight disappointment, you see Griffon there, sitting at the island counter taking a sip of coffee. 

“Good morning, Y/N” she says quietly, yet cheerfully. She seems fully awake, like she’s been there for a while. “Did you sleep well?” she says with a smile. 

“Yeah, really well…” you say as you yawn a little. You wander over to the coffee maker and pour yourself a cup, joining Griffon. “What time did you get up?” you ask after your first sip. 

“Around 7:30” she replied. At the shock of your face she explains “Geoff knocked right out as soon as he hit the mattress, and I did soon after. I’m also used to very minimal sleep between Millie and him.” 

“Oh, that makes sense. So have you seen Ryan…?” you trail off, not wanting to sound clingy. The man can come and go as he pleases; maybe he changed his mind after last night…

“Yeah, around 8:45 or so, Ryan woke up and he said that he was going to grab donuts and more coffee for everyone” Griffon said with a smile on her face. “He woke up a few minutes before he told me that. When I came into the house around 8 or so, you both were sleeping so peacefully. It was a cute sight” 

You lower your eyes a little but it’s flattering to hear someone say you two were cute. 

Even though she sees you blushing, she continues “really, it was! Sweetie, you should hear Geoff talk about you two, really.” 

You almost spit out your coffee. “What?” you choke. 

“Please” Griffon says as she pats your back lightly. “Geoff may be an idiot but he’s not stupid….all the time. Once in a while he’ll come home and comment how you and Ryan would take turn looking at each other during meetings and how if the guys start poking fun at you during a let’s play, Ryan quietly defends you. Really, y/n, I think you’ve been in denial on how he looks and acts around you, and how you even feel yourself.” 

Before you can respond, you hear the front door open, and there is Ryan, a coffee and a box of donuts in tow.   
You feel your face blush as you seem him in the doorway. He feels your eyes on you and he lifts his head to meet your gaze after he takes off his shoes, and he comes into the kitchen where you and Griffon are. 

“Morning, ladies” Ryan says setting the donuts and coffee on the table. 

Meh. Donuts. You think looking down at the pastries. Ever since your incident in elementary school, you were rather put off by them. If only…

“Oh, by the way, I got you a bagel with cream cheese” Ryan says as he tosses you a small paper bag. You feel your mouth water.

“How did you know I eat bagels?” you ask him questioningly.

“Because you always eat one every Monday morning during the Achievement Hunter meetings” Ryan shrugs. 

Griffon steps off of her stool and grabs a donut. “I’m going to take this and see if this can wake up the bear in the truck.” As she walks by you, she pats your head and gives you an encouraging smile. 

Once the door closes, you make yourself busy by grabbing cups out of the cupboards and setting them up so every will have one. It’s almost time to start waking everyone up for the move. You grab a cup and finish off the rest of the coffee that was in the maker so that everyone else can enjoy the fresh coffee Ryan had brought. 

You feel him gazing at you while you feign being busy, but once that minor work is finished, you have nothing to do but sit on the stool in front of him. You take a long sip of coffee before you can bring yourself to look at him. 

He’s grinning at you. “Are you not talking because you’re not a morning person, or because you simply don’t want to talk?”

“Well, I’m really not a morning person” you state. And you’re not lying either. You hate that 7 o’clock alarm that’s always set for work. 

“That’s another thing I can see during the meetings. You don’t say much unless it’s your week to speak, or Michael and Gavin get even more on your nerves.” He jokes lightly. 

“Very true.” You admit with a small smile. 

You both sit in silence for a few more minutes. It’s still a rather comfortable silence since you’re so accustomed to it. But there was an underlying something. Not tension, but something.

“So…” he starts, slightly trying to prompt you to talk. 

“So?” you respond back with an arched eyebrow. If he wants a conversation, he’ll have to initiate. 

“So.” He repeats with a low laugh. “What are your thoughts about last night?” Did you sleep okay?” 

Ryan’s eyes are searching yours, and for a second, you’re slightly mesmerized. “Umm… I slept really well. And what do you mean what are my thoughts about last night? I thought we somewhat established some things…” you stop talking for the fear of saying something you’ll regret. 

“We did” he reassures. “We definitely did. I just wanted to make sure you feel the same way this morning as you did then.” 

“I do.” You barely whisper looking down at the table. 

Ryan puts a hand under your chin to force you to look at him. “You need to stop that, you know.” He says gently slightly caressing your cheek. 

“Stop what?” you say confused. 

“Looking away” he murmurs. “I like when you look at me.” He pauses a beat. “I also feel the same way as last night” he says as he smiles and lowers his hand to cover your own on the table. 

You can help but to smile back at him and feel your heart soar. 

Before anything else could be said, you hear “You devil woman I don’t want to get up!” being shouted from outside, followed by a bunch of groans of protest from the sudden noise from the other room, and you and Ryan can’t help but laugh out loud. 

Caiti and Jack both come down from upstairs fully dressed for the day. Jack looks very grumpy and he immediately grabs a donut and starts munching. Caiti’s eyes dart directly to how you and Ryan are holding hands across the table and flashes her brightest smile at you both, to which you respond with an eye roll. 

Geoff and Griffon come into the house, Geoff eating his donut angrily. “What the- how are you all still asleep?!” he yells at the four sleepy heads still on the couch. 

“Geoff, I love you, and you’re a great boss, but shut up and let me sleep with my wife” a tired Michael grumbles, snuggling closer to who he thought was Lindsay. 

“THAT’S NOT YOUR FUCKING WIFE YOU DIPSHIT THAT’S GAVIN” Geoff shouts before an eruption of laughter that wakes up the girls. All of a sudden Michael yells in Gavin’s face as soon as he really registers what’s going on which startles Gavin awake. 

Everyone in the kitchen huddles around the living room entry way and is laughing, even Jack, who is automatically in a good mood at the embarrassment of the two lads. Gavin and Michael are viciously throwing your pillows around. 

“What the fuck, Gavin?! Why were you on top of me?” Michael says beating Gavin up with a pillow. 

“Well why were you cuddling closer to me, ya donut?” the British yelps over the snorting from Meg and Lindsay. 

“Please tell me someone took a photo of them! I need to see this” Meg giggled. 

“Oh don’t worry, there’s tons” you exaggerate. “There’s a really cute one where Michael is kissing Gav’s big nose” you laugh at Michael’s face.

“Y/N I swear to God-“Michael says, completely serious. “I will fucking end you. You will never see the light of day”

“Relax, Michael” you say as you roll your eyes. You’re not threatened by him, but Ryan’s arm around your hip ever so slightly constricts. “No photos were taken.” You lie and   
Michael sighs out of relief and rubs his hair as he looks around. When he’s not looking, you do an exaggerated wink to Lindsay and Meg, who quietly snicker to each other.

“Good…good…” Michael says relaxing. “Do I smell donuts?” He heads towards the kitchen between you and Ryan since he saw Ryan’s hands around you and mumbled “bout time that became a thing” so only you could hear.

 

Holy crap you think as you look around your apartment with all of your things in it. This is it. 

Caiti and Jack are sitting on your small couch, while Lindsay is in the only chair. You and Ryan are leaning against the wall by the door, while Geoff, Griffon and Michael sit on the floor and Meg on a box. The coffee from earlier seems to have been drained out of everyone’s system by now. Ryan and you seem to be the only ones you have some energy. 

“I’m never moving someone ever again” Geoff vows as he lies on the cool wood floor dragging Griffon down with him. “This is too much for an old man like me.” 

“Geoff, I’m not even close to your age and I feel you, man” replies Michael, who tries to copy Geoff, but hits his head on Lindsay's foot. 

“Well, thank you guys so much” you say genuinely. “It would’ve been a pain in the ass making multiple trips.” 

Everyone says their own version of “you’re welcome” and “no problem” as they all stand and dust themselves off. 

“Well, as much as we want to help you unpack, we have to go pick up Mills from her grandparents” Griffon says as she walks over to you and gives you a light hug. 

Geoff follows suit and says “It always feels good to have your own place. Still glad I hired you to help Steffie and me out” and Geoff gives you a light peck on the forehead. Sometimes Geoff can be a crazy boss, but you knew he had a heart of gold. 

“Yeah, guys, we also need to head out” say Gavin as he helps Meg up from off a box. “Dan’s coming in town in a few days and we got to get our house ready. We’re planning a slow mo video in the back yard!” 

“Congrats again, sweetie” Meg says as she squeezes your hand. “Thanks for the fun party!” She turns to Ryan and says “Don’t forget, it’s you, me and Ashley on the Patch this week” 

“I won’t” He smiled as she patted his arm.

“Alright, Y/N you behave now, try not to jump Ryan as soon as we leave” Michael says as he stretches.

“Michael” you say reaching over to slap him, but he dodges. 

“Hey, that’s for earlier” he shrugs. “You deserved that one, kiddo” he says as he pulls you in for one of his big hugs. 

“Okay, fair enough” you say as you hug him back. 

Lindsay simply waves out of exhaustion and leans against Michael as they all walk out your door. 

So, it was just Caiti, Jack, and Ryan left. You all decide to order some pizza and wings while they help you unpack your things. 

 

Around nine or so, most of the things are unpacked, except for your clothes and a couple boxes of things that you need to go through and see what needs to be thrown out. You were so relieved that the place came with all furniture except for a bed. That would have made today ten times more of a headache.

Jack and Caiti are lounging on your couch while you sit in your office chair and Ryan leaning against the back of your legs. 

Jack looks and the clock and mutters “Shit. Hon, we got to get going soon.” he says to Caiti, who starts to pout in protest “We still have some small clean up to do around the house from the party, and we all have work in the morning.” 

“Okay, guys.” You say as you stand. Ryan gets up and moves over to the kitchen area so he’s out of the way of you three. He knows you kind of need your own moment with the couple. 

You all kind of just stare at each other for a couple seconds, seeing the bittersweet looks on each of their faces slightly breaks your heart. 

“Guys, I’m only 15 minutes away…” You start but your voice cracks so you pretend to cough to cover it up. 

“We know.” Caiti says, tears welling up in her eyes. “It’s just not going to be the same.”

“You’ve been living with us for over a year. It was a great ride. Just some of the small stuff that’s not really going to happen anymore…” Jack says. “It’s just going to be a lot emptier there and-“then Jack starts crying a bit. “We’re just going to miss you a lot.” 

You feel tears stream down your face as you pull them in for a big hug. “I’m going to miss you guys too. But I’ll see you tomorrow at work, Jack. And Caiti, we have all next weekend” 

You guys hug it out for another few seconds before breaking apart. After seeing each other’s faces; Jack’s soaked beard, and you and Caiti have make up streaks, you all laugh. 

“Alright, honey. Be good, and get sleep tonight” Jack says giving you one more hug. He heads out the door and down the stairs to start the car up. 

Caiti looks over at Ryan, whom you almost forgot was still there, and says “Take care of her before you leave” to which he just smiles and nods. 

Caiti kisses you on the cheek and leaves through the open door. You close it and turn and look at the apartment. It’s yours; your own place. 

You look at the man still lounging by the kitchen and smile. Ryan strides over and wraps himself around you and you embrace him back, standing on your tip toes.

“What a weekend, huh?” you say, burying your face in his neck. He smells like cologne and slight amount of himself from sweating during the move. 

“I know” he agrees, and his face in pressed into your hair as his hand rubs your back. “Is there anything else that needs to get done tonight?” 

“No, just my clothes are left. I have some shopping to do this week for groceries and some basic home supplies, but I’m sure Caiti and I will be doing that this weekend” you sigh as you pull away from him. You assume that he’s going to be leaving soon as well. You almost feel the need to ask him to spend the night with you, but you didn’t want him to get the wrong impression on what you meant and or what kind of girl you are. You just weren’t used to being in a place completely alone, except for the rare times Jack and Caiti went on vacations. 

“Okay, well, as much as I’d hate to leave you alone tonight, I unfortunately do have to head to my place for the night. It’ll do you some good to get acquainted with your new place alone.” He said smiling. “Plus, what would everyone say if they saw me wearing the exact same thing from the party yesterday? There would be a lot of talk” he says in mock horror. 

You laugh for a second and sigh. “Alright. You’re right.” For once you’re the one wrapping yourself around him. You really just don’t want him to leave. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning at the meeting.” He murmurs into your ear. 

“Thank you” You say, pulling back slightly to allow your eyes to search his face. “For helping with the move, and for coming to the party, and just everything, and-“

You’re interrupted by the crash of Ryan’s lips on yours. You’re taken aback from the amount of passion that he has, but soon you respond in the same way. You feel your arms lock around his head, as his hand clench your hair and head, slightly bending you back. You eagerly cling to him and keep kissing him. 

After a few minutes of this heated kiss, you both gradually start slowing down to gentler kisses. You pull away slightly gasping, never have been kissed in such a manner before, as he gently kisses the top of your forehead, breathing a little heavy as well. 

When you both break apart enough to look at each other, you see he has a smile as big as the one on your face. 

“Finally” he laughs. “I can kiss you without being waltzed into!” 

You laugh loudly. “God, can you imagine if they saw us now?” Ryan joins your laughter. 

You sigh as he pulls away after giving you another kiss on the cheek. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow” Ryan promises. 

“Tomorrow… I wonder what that will bring?” you say.   
“We’ll have to wait and see.” Ryan grins as he opens the door and walks out. 

You look around the small apartment and are silently stunned at how much can really change in just one weekend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last one I'm uploading for now, I've fallen behind on how consistent I've been writing, but I thought I'd put up the first 3 so people can start reading and getting a feel for this story. I should be posting again in the next few days, so sit tight! Thank you so much for reading this story so far!


	4. Monday Meetings

For someone who normally doesn’t sleep well, you got an impeccable amount of sleep last night. It probably had to do with all the crazy activity from the weekend and your body just had to catch up. 

You get out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off and stretch. As you’re in the shower, you hear your phone buzz, but continue to shower anyways, since you assume it’s Caiti making sure you slept okay and are going to make yourself breakfast before work. When you double check your phone, you do see the missed call is from her along with a text from Jack saying he’ll pick you up since your car is going to be in the shop until Tuesday. You quickly type back Jack confirming that you’ll be ready to head out when he gets there. 

Looking in your closet, you try and put together a nice outfit. Now that you have someone to slightly impress, you put on a nice pencil skirt that you’ve yet to wear to the office, only for the interview that got you the position. You wear a nice emerald green blouse that you tuck into the skirt and throw on a pair of kitten heels. You realize there is something different about you, but you’re unsure what- some kind of new energy?

When you go to the kitchen to grab a granola bar for breakfast you see that the time is only 8 am. You’re never ready this early, so you go enjoy your granola outside on your very tiny balcony that overlooks the parking lot. The gentle Texan breeze blows lightly against your face. You could get used to this balcony. It just needed a chair or two. 

Jack arrives around 8:15 and texts that he’s here. You gather your briefcase and head out the door, just to be almost tackled to the ground by Jack. 

“Hey, hey!” Jack exclaims. “How are you, sis?” He beams down at your slightly disheveled self as you jokingly glare back at him.

“Jeez, Jack” you say, as your straighten your skirt. “Miss me, much?” 

“Hell yeah! You know how quiet that place is without you there to make Caiti and I cause a ruckus?” Jack laughed as you both got seated for the drive over to the building. 

Fortunately, your apartment was a halfway point. You guys were going to be a little early, but Jack would probably want to grab breakfast on the way. 

“I’m sure you were both causing a ruckus of your own” you tease and wiggle your eyebrows at him. 

Jack did one of his girly giggles back at you and you couldn’t help but snort with laughter. “How’d you know?” 

“Eewww I don’t want to hear it, bro” you say sticking your tongue out at him. 

You both arrive at work at 8:45 after grabbing breakfast to go. As you step out of the car you use the passenger window to quickly check your makeup and hair before walking in. 

“Who do you have to impress?” joked Jack. You give him a disdained look. “You look really nice, though.” He backpedals.

“Thanks” you say sweetly. 

Walking into the building you look at the cars that are there. You see Meg’s, Michael’s, and Steffie’s cars, as well as Ryan’s truck. You start walking slightly faster as your heart starts pumping more and more with each step. 

You walk into the cool building, and see that Matt, Jeremy, Kdin, and Linds are all in their office unpacking, and they give you a quick wave and smile as you walk by. You look over at the AH room and you see Michael and Gavin unpacking, and by the sounds of it Ryan’s in there too. You wanted to drop off your briefcase before going in there. As you walk into your office you hear everyone greet Jack as he walks in. 

When you open the door to your room, Steffie is in there already, finishing the schedule for today that you’ll discuss in the meeting in a few minutes. 

“Morning, Y/N” Steffie smiles as she peaks around her computer, then goes back to typing. 

As you walk over to your desk you notice something on it. It’s a large coffee that smells of caramel. When you look down on the desk you see a note saying "Good morning, dear. Fuel for those meetings-Ryan"

Your heart skips a beat at the sight of the dear. Terms of endearment? You’re not really used to that kind of thing, but it’s certainly something you could get used to… 

You look at Steffie and say “Did you let him come in and do this?” nodding towards the coffee

She simply smiles and nods her head while looking at the computer she replies “I think it’s cute.”

You shake your head at your associate, grab the coffee and head over to the AH room

When you come in, Gavin is lounging on the couch, almost trying to take a nap, Michael is playing a game, Far Cry, by the looks of it, and Jack is still unpacking. Ryan’s back is turned away from you with headphones on. You assume he’s editing a video. Still no sign of Geoff yet; him being a tad late wasn’t unusual. 

“Morning, Micoo and Gavy Wav” You say cheerfully. As you walk past Gavin you ruffle his hair. You know he hates it. 

“No touching the hair!” Gavin says as he sits up to fix it. 

Ryan turns around at the sound of you voice and sees you there. First, his eyes are on the coffee in your hand, and a small smile appears on his face. Then he looks at your outfit for a few seconds longer than you really expected. Finally he raises his eyes to yours and smiles even larger. 

You keep walking steadily towards him even though you feel like you’re going to be a puddle by the time you get to him. Will that feeling ever go away? 

“Good morning” You say low. He stands up and gives you a quick kiss on the cheek. “How did you sleep last night?” 

“Not as good as I did on the chaise, but fine just the same” he says as he moves a strand of hair behind your ear. “How did you sleep? I see you got your coffee from your desk” his eyes dart between the cup and back to your face.  
“I slept alright. Thank you for this, by the way. I must be a bear in the meetings if you think I need a coffee this size” you tease as you bring the coffee to your lips. 

“Yeah, Y/N, you can be a real bitch in the morning” Michael comments over the sound of Far Cry. You’re slightly annoyed he’s commenting on the conversation between you and Ryan, but then again, nothing is private at work. 

“Michael, hasn’t anyone taught you to mind your manners?” Ryan jokes at the curly haired man. 

“Fuck manners, Ry! I’m a Jersey boy!” 

You all slightly chuckle as Geoff comes in. He looks a little tired still but not as bad as yesterday. 

“Sorry guys, I had to drop Millie off at school” Geoff says as he drops his stuff off at his desk. “Ready for a fun filled morning of meetings?” he said sarcastically. Geoff hated the meetings more than anything. 

You all walk over to the main building together. As you’re walking with Ryan next to you, you feel his hand intertwine with yours. You’re slightly surprised by it, especially at work but you simply smile up at him. 

“Yeah, Ryan, keep her in a good mood before she gets in that meeting room” Michael taunts. 

“Michael you do know you’re holding my hand too, right? Are you trying to make me extra happy for some reason too?” Lindsay inquires.

“Uh-no, babe I was just-“Michael tried explaining, but Lindsay just pecked him on the cheek and called him an idiot. 

As you guys entered the building, everyone from Rooster Teeth was also working their way to the podcast stage that was already set up for the meeting. Set up was simply a few tables with chairs on the podcast stage that faced out into an empty section, where everyone who didn’t have something to say about meeting info would sit/ stand around. The people on the stage were Gus and Burnie since they pretty much ran the meeting, Barbara who was up there more than usual because RTX was in a few months, Geoff and this week Steffie (you both rotated weeks on who was up there) for AH, Kerry and Miles for RWBY and RvB stuff, and Ashley for the Know. 

As everyone gathered around, you and Ryan decided to stand in the back of the group, and he put his hand around your waist. 

“Hubba, hubba” Miles said as he walked past you two. “What do we have here?” Kerry, who was following behind him, snickered as he walked by. You stuck your tongue at Miles who wiggled his eyebrows and batted his eyes at you in response as he took his seat. 

After everyone got on stage Gus began to speak. “Settle, settle, everyone.” People quieted down almost immediately; no one liked annoying Gus during meetings. 

“Hey everyone” Burnie said cheerfully into the microphone. “Hope you guys aren't hungover still from the party for y/n's move! Lots of work to get ready for!” he said smiling. 

As he said this, some people turned to look at you and saw Ryan’s arm around your waist, and began to murmur slightly. You felt your face pale. You didn’t want any office rumors to begin yet. However you see Ashley’s face on stage and she gives you a smile and subtle thumbs up you and Ryan. You hear Ryan laugh a little and he said, almost to himself “I got to thank her sometime” 

“Me too” you agree, and feel his hand tighten on your waist and pulled you closer, and you can’t help but to put your arm around him as well. 

The meeting drones on for about 30 minutes because each group gets about 5 minutes to discuss what they need to say, and then it’s open for discussion. Gus had this down to a science and knew when to proceed to the next subject. The biggest announcement was that you all were 3 months away from RTX, which was followed by a few cheers. You were a mixture of both excitement and nerves. It’d be your first as an employee (last year you stayed at the office to help edit videos and make sure everything was running smoothly), but since you went to one a couple years ago, you slightly know how they go. Plus, it’s not like a lot of people would really know whew you were. 

When it gets to Geoff and Steffie, they discuss the AH schedule. They confirm with Gus that Gavin has to be on the podcast later tonight, to which Gus gives a death threat to Gavin that everyone except Gavin laughs at. They also confirm with Ashley that Ryan will be needed for the Patch on Thursday. When they open for any discussion, Jon pipes up about wanting to do a photo shoot type project that will debut during RTX. By the sounds of it, it’s something they’ll play on a slide show before the Achievement Hunter panel, and it’ll be a theme shoot of based off what they play. 

“If I have to wear that kilt one more time, Risinger, I’m not going to be very happy about it” Ryan pipes in and you laugh along with many others. You haven’t seen it on him in person, but you’ve seen Ten Little Roosters, and you’ve heard a few stories from filming. 

“Not funny” Ryan says, looking at you accusingly. 

“Hey, you may not be the only one in a kilt” Risinger said with a shrug. 

Steffie steps in “Well, we can probably plan that for Friday since that’s our easy day for filming sake. I assume that you’ll want a majority of a day for the other project?

“Probably” Jon says. “Friday will be good for T Shirts at least. I can put them on the site on Saturday for a special promo or something.”

“We’ll need to finagle some filming around to get ahead and on schedule. If you want Jon, you can come for part of our meeting after this so we can set stuff up” you say, loud enough for Jon to hear.

Jon agrees and says he’ll be a little late to the meeting but will be there.

With all of that being said, Gus and Burnie conclude the meeting and everyone disperses to do their own group focus meeting. 

Once you guys get settling in your office room, it’s time for you to be in charge, since Steffie did the large meeting. 

“Okay guys, so after hearing that we’re going to do some finagling around with the schedule, any suggestions or requests that we need to work around?” you ask before taking the last sip of your coffee and chucking it into the garbage. You take a pen and take a copy of Steffie’s schedule so you can make notes on it. 

“Well, I have to do the Podcast later tonight so I’ll be leaving around 4 or so” Gavin said. “And Wednesday I have to film Slo Mo content since Dan’s only in town for a couple days before he goes back.” 

“Okay, what time is the latest you can leave the office on Wednesday?” You say clicking your pen, getting ready to write. 

“Meg and I are going to pick Dan up at the airport by 2:30, so probably 1:30?” Gavin states, you nod as you write it down. 

“So no Gavin today from 4 on and he leaves Wednesday at 1:30. That could cut into some GTA time…” you think out loud. “What’s the let’s play for GTA this week?” you ask, looking at Geoff. 

“I made a few races in the game yesterday when we came home from picking Millie up so we can do that. It’s easy, doesn’t need any set up and it’s something we can keep doing until we decide to call it quits or whatever” Geoff comments. 

“So let’s make GTA the morning slot instead of the Let's Play Wednesday slot.” You say as you scratch them out and re write in that time slot. “What are the random LPs this week?” 

“Destiny TDM is one of them” Ryan said. “Gavin doesn’t need to be a part of that, since it is only 4 players anyways.”   
“I love Destiny TDM though. I finally got good at it” Gavin whines. 

“Not that good, buddy” Michael says patting Gavin on the back. “That’s going to be Jack, Ryan, myself and Geoff right?” 

“Yeah. And that’s one we can do on Wednesday so it won’t cut into Gavin going to the airport” Jack points out. 

“Okay. So today, you guys are doing Towerfall after lunch, right? Who is in that?” you ask. “Gavin you are, right?” You knew how much he loved the game.

“Absolutely! I’m not missing Towerfall!” Gavin exclaimed. As everyone laughed a little.

“Okay, who else?”

“I’ll sit out on this one” Ryan volunteers. “I’m not that good at the game, and it’s my time to rotate out of it” 

“Is it because you want to spend time with your newfound girlfriend?” Michael comments. 

“Michael, you were doing such a good job at keeping your mouth shut, please continue to do so” you say glaring at him. 

“Yeah, actually I do” Ryan says cheekily back at Michael with a bit of a smirk on his face.

“See, that’s all you had to say, buddy” Michael says thumping Ryan on the back. “Jeez, don’t be so touchy, Y/N. Or maybe you need to be touched” 

“Knock it off” this time it was Jack piping up. “I do not need to hear that kind of thing about her. Continue” he says looking at you. 

You shoot him an appreciative glance before continuing. “So now what should we do about the live action stuff? I say we do majority of it tomorrow morning and then push Minecraft’s LP to the afternoon”

“Yeah that’s sounds good.” Geoff says. 

“Great!” you say, writing it down. You look at the schedule that is now a scribbled mess, except for Thursday. “So all we have is Thursday to plan and then we’ll just wait for Jon-“And as you say that Jon comes in. 

“Sorry I’m late” he apologizes. 

“We haven’t really gotten to your stuff quite yet so don’t worry about it” you say smiling. 

“Thursday we can still do the Let’s Play like normal. I want it to be six of us, because I think we’re going to a Quiplash video, since the last one was so successful- for everyone but Gavin that is” Geoff states. “I also say we record two of those, because they’re good for just an extra if we ever need to have a filler LP. So I’m thinking that the sixth person is different for both of those”

“I’ll do one of them!” Jeremy pipes up. “Fucking love that game!” 

“That sounds good” you smile at him. You have fondness for the “Other Achievement Hunters”. They worked so hard and didn’t always get the credit they deserved. 

“And I want you to do the other one.” Geoff says looking right at you. 

“What?” you say confused, thinking you misheard him. 

“Yeah. You’ve yet to be in anything except for a couple announcement videos and AHWUs. You’ve worked at this company long enough, plus you’re funny as dicks. Think it’s time you get on the level with the big wigs, little lady” Geoff smiles at you.

He’s serious. He actually wants you in a let’s play. It’s something you’ve always kind of wanted, but never would ask for in a million years. The room erupts with cheers and clapping, mainly from Jack and Michael who both knew how you felt about the matter. When you look at Ryan you see him smiling encouragingly at you. 

“I don’t know what to say, Geoff” you mumble. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it”

“Woman, you’ve said that at least 20 times this week.” Geoff rolls his eyes at you, but his tone is kind. “So will you do it?

“Oh fuck yes” you beam. 

“Yeah, well you’re going down in VS now” Michael says with a challenging look.

“Hang on I didn’t agree to VS-“you start.

“I forgot about that!” exclaims Geoff “Hell yeah you are and I’m betting $100 dollars on you to win it!” 

“I bet $100 on my boi!” Gavin pipes up. "You are so busy, you don't have time to play games, right?" Gavin says looking at you with a slightly confused look.

“Fucking that’s what you think” Jack says. “What do you think we do when Caiti is out of town? She can kick ass at plenty of games! I’ll rise to the bet!”

“I’ve been known to pick up a controller or two” you say coyly at Michael who you can just tell means business now. 

“What consoles?” He demanded, trying to figure out what to pick in his head. “PC? Xbox? PS?”

“My lips are sealed” you say with a grin.

“Sealed on Haywood’s you mean” Michael retorts. 

You squint your eyes at him. He means business? So do you. 

“Fine” you say as you lean over the table; Michael follows suit. “Want to make this worthwhile to me, Jones? If I win, you can’t make these shitty snarky remarks about my life again” 

Everyone ooohs, and much to your annoyance, Ryan laughs pretty loudly. You shoot him a look of accusation and he just grins and shrugs. 

“Alright” Michael leans towards you “If I win though, it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse, and if you’re in let’s plays now, you’re never going to hear the end of it” 

“Deal” you say as you shake his hand. 

“Ryan, should I even ask on who you’re betting on?” Gavin asks. 

Ryan pauses for a minute and sizes up you and Michael. He leans over the table at you and looks you in the eye and simply says “I vote Michael.”

“Traitor” you hiss at him as you sit back down in your chair. You know he’s slightly joking, but you take minor offense to it anyways. Isn’t he supposed to back you up a bit? 

“Hey, there is nothing in the deal that says I can't stop him myself” He grins wickedly at you while everyone in the room laughs. 

“Now that our crap is settled” you say as you look at Jon, who seems slightly out of place. He’s probably not used to how the AH crew settle things. “It’s Jon’s turn to take the floor” 

“Okay. So we got a couple new shirts for you guys” Jon says as he passes them out. “We are going back to the Let’s Play shirt and now turning it into a woman’s cut shirt as well now, since it’s still a popular design.” 

The other shirts are more sayings from more recent let’s plays, and you briefly look at each of them. A couple are Gavin’s, one for Michael, and another is poking fun at Ryan’s flubs in let’s play. You smile and make a mental note to get that shirt once it’s out. The woman’s cut LP shirt makes it to you and you have to admire it. It’s the perfect cut that would be flattering on anyone. 

“So I’m assuming this Friday you’ll need Ryan, Gavin and Michael for theirs? And Lindsay for the woman’s shirt?” you ask Jon. 

“Well, what is your schedule looking like on Friday?” Jon asks. 

“I have my usual morning meeting with Barb and Steffie, and usual rough draft of next week’s schedule… why?” you narrow your eyes suspiciously. 

“Why don’t you model it? We could use a fresh face and if you’re going to be in let’s plays, it’s a good way for a nice photo to get up online so people know you are” Jon shrugs. 

“Y/N, you’re gorgeous, you can easily do it. I’m also slightly tired of it.” Lindsay says. 

“Okay, I guess” you shrug. It’s just a picture or two right? 

“Great. Now the main thing I’m here to discuss is the AH photo shoot for your panel intro.” Jon continues. “Rooster Teeth is doing a Vogue-esque shoot of them in each of their rooms. For you guys, I’m thinking we take your two famous games and do realistic photos of you guys as those characters.”

You all look around and nod. It’s a good idea. 

“Now here’s the twist- not only are there going to photos of you guys as your characters…but a lady version as well” Jon says grinning. 

Michael looks at Lindsay and fondly says “Fuck I’m going to be hot as shit.” Lindsay rolls her eyes and laughs at him. 

“That’s the point. We’re going to put up your photos that will be more realistic, then a more… playboy version of it with the ladies to kind of play it up” Jon smiles. “And perhaps a couple photos of you guys together. AH is completely made up of couples now. I was struggling for Ryan but now that Y/N and him seem to be an item….” 

“Hold on” you interrupt sharply. “I agreed to a t shirt photo. Not…. This. It’s a great idea but can’t you get Barb or someone else to..?” you slightly panic. 

“I like it” Ryan states. You look at him sharply. He notices you are not kidding, but he continues “It’s a great concept and we should keep it within AH. Obviously Meg will model for Gavin, and bring in Caiti and Griffon, but that would be nice to keep it within the group” he explains. 

You can’t really argue with his point, so you look away and back at Jon “Can I think about this a little?” you feebly plead.

“Sure” Jon smiles kindly. “Clearly a lot has been thrown your way. You have until tomorrow” Jon stands, says he’ll be in touch and exits the room.

The guys are all excited about their wives/girlfriends dressing as them and they’re already thinking of what is going to happen. 

You simply shake your head, and Steffie just says that the meeting’s over. When you look at your watch you notice its noon. It’s lunch time for all of you. 

What the hell is going on with the people in this company?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so nothing incredible in this chapter, but it's mainly used as a set up for some fun to come!


	5. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan and you go out on a date

After lunch with you group, you all come back full and eager to get this work done with for the day, but then you remind yourself that Ryan isn’t in the following let’s play. 

When you all walk into the office and the guys take their seats, starting to slowly get in the mental state for recording, you look over at Ryan who is hesitating in the hallway between your office and his. 

“What’s up? You ask, slightly concerned. 

He sighs and looks at you apologetically. “I know earlier I said I was going to take this time and spend it with you but… I have to do a bit of editing if we’re going to spend all Friday gallivanting with Jon. I’m sorry, dear” 

Your heart does a flip flop in your chest. As much as you wanted to spend the time with him, since the time you’ve had alone together has been minimal, you know you have work to do as well. You also enjoy hearing him say that little term of endearment out loud for the first time. It’s just as nice to hear as your name coming from him. 

You smile a little at him and say “That’s alright. I have to type up the new schedule and send it to people, as well as get ahead of any of the work I may have for the week.” 

You notice him slightly look down the hallway behind him, and before you know it his lips are cascading down onto yours. It seems like it’s been ages since this happened, not less than 24 hours ago. You respond greedily and reach onto your tip toes so it’s easier on him than leaning down to you. He enjoys your enthusiasm and cups your face. You continue kissing until you both need to break away, gasping for air. When you open your eyes you see a pool of molten blue looking back at you. 

“I may or may not have been waiting to that all day” Ryan breathlessly admitted.”I just couldn’t find us alone time to do so” 

You laugh at his confession and reply “I’m glad you waited. Not sure if I could deal with everyone else looking on” 

He laughs as he pulls you into a hug. “What are you doing tonight?” 

You pause, not only because you’re trying to think of what your plans are, but wanting to stay in his arms a little longer; you know you both have to return to work shortly. “I’m probably just going to be at my apartment for the night. Getting better acquainted with it” you tease, using the same words he used last night. 

“I was wondering, do you want to join me out for dinner? I was going to ask you to lunch, but since everyone was going out, I decided that we could do dinner instead.” He looks at you trying to gauge your response. 

“I’d love that, actually” you say warmly. “Want to go after work?”

“Perfect. Finish your work, then meet me in the office and I’ll see where I’m at”

“Sounds good, hon” you say. It just slipped out. You didn’t mean to call him that, but it must have been on the back of your mind from him calling you names the whole day. 

Ryan just smiles brightly back at you, and doesn’t make a comment. You know he heard what you said, but he simply kisses you on the forehead and walks down the hall to the   
door to the AH office. 

Shaking your head you walk in your office and get down to business. 

After making the revised schedule and reconfirming everything with Steffie, you email it out to the usual people: Gus, Burnie, and the main group of guys in the office. You also forward a copy to Meg and Jon just to keep them in the loop; the main reason for Meg being that she’s just an extra person to keep tabs on her forgetful boyfriend. 

You look at the clock when you’re done with that and the other paper work and see its quarter to 4. Gavin has to leave for the podcast soon, and from the yelps and shouts you can hear from the other room, they’re not quite done. So, you walk down the hall to remind him. 

“SUCK MY KNOB” is the sound you’re greeted with when you enter the room. The Towerfall king must still be reigning. 

As they’re all laughing, you see Geoff turn and see you enter. Knowing why you’re in there, he starts wrapping up the video. 

“Wot, you want to quit cause you’re a loser?” Gavin shouts. 

As he says this, you tap him lightly on the shoulder, causing him to jump. When he sees you he scrambles to look at the time and sees it’s almost 4.   
“Shit” he mouths, as he takes off his headphones and ends his capture. He stealthily exits the room, but you hear the outdoor slam shut. 

“Okay, that’s it for the day, I think, folks” Geoff says taking off the one side of the headphone he actually uses. “Our meetings ran a little longer today so whoever wants to record Hunt now, you probably should. We did AHWU before we did this LP and Kdin is going to get it on the channel shortly” 

“I’ll do Hunt!” Jack said proudly. AHWU and Hunt were Jack’s pride since he’s the one who came up with both. 

“Yeah I could be up for some Hunt since I have to rack my brain for the smack down of the century tomorrow” Michael says, leaning in his chair with his arms behind his head, giving you a challenging look. 

“Bring it, bitch. You’ve no idea what you’re dealing with.” You threaten. 

“I’ll make Jack tell me what your strength and weaknesses are, aside from Haywood’s dreamy eyeballs” Michael sasses.

“Dude, no way in hell. My money is on her” Jack shakes his head smirking. “Let me tell you though- you’re screwed” 

“Sure, sure…” Michael mumbles as he looks at the game wall to figure out what they’re going to play for Hunt. 

You go and sit in Geoff’s chair next to Ryan, who is editing last week’s VS, because you see the part where you and he both walk in. You feel a prickle on the back of your neck as you realize that’s your first appearance out of many to come shortly. 

Ryan looks over at you and smiles. “All set?” You nod your head. “Great. Just let me watch this through and we’ll be set.” 

As you sit there and watch him go back to work, you appreciate the time to slightly stare at him while he can’t distract you in the process. You look at his sandy blond hair, his stubble from lack of shaving from this weekend, down to how his chin was resting on his hand, causing the muscles in his arm to swell slightly. You really lucked out with him. 

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he senses you gawking at him. “Enjoy what you’re seeing?” he flirtatiously asks as he arches his eyebrows at you. 

“I mean, I’m not complaining by any means” You flirt back with a wink. 

“Okay, I think we’re set, then” he says as he stands and grabs his backpack. 

“Wait, Y/N, am I not giving you a ride home? Jack asks looking confused. 

“Sorry Jack, Ryan’s going to later… we’re going out for dinner” you smile sheepishly because you feel bad that you were about to walk out without telling Jack. 

“Oh, that’s okay. Have fun and if you need anything call Caiti or I” Jack says, smiling to reassure you he isn’t mad. 

As you walk out, Ryan grabs your hand and gives it a light kiss and you notice he’s grinning more than ever. 

“What?” you ask suspiciously, narrowing your eyes. 

“Nothing really” he shrugs, but still with that smile on his face as you both climb into the truck. “Just happy we’re doing this” 

“Me too. Where do you want to go?” you ask as you buckle up.

He lifts your chin and gives you kiss on the lips. This time, there is no built up tension, because you both know you have the night ahead of you. “Italian good, dear?” 

“Sounds great, hon” you say with a laugh. 

 

The restaurant wasn’t overly packed for a Friday, but you two had to wait five minutes for a table to open. 

After you both order, you look around the restaurant, slightly trying not to stare at Ryan. It’s hard not to since you feel his gaze on you. 

“Can I help you?” you tease. 

“Sorry, it’s my turn to appreciate the view” Ryan smirks. “I’ve been meaning to tell you how stunning you look all day” 

You blush and stutter out a thank you. 

“I know we’ve been friends at work for a long while now, but with the nature of this relationship, I want to know more about you. Aside from how you’re not a morning person on Monday Meeting day” he jokes. 

Your heart flops in your chest at the mention of how you both are in a relationship. It was the first time either of you had said it out loud, and you loved hearing it. 

“Alright, what would you like to know about me?” you ask, tilting your head a little at him. 

“Are you really going to kick Michael’s ass tomorrow?” he asks with a challenging look. 

You laugh loudly. “Of course I am.” You say confidently. “Jack and I weren’t lying. We played games all the time when I was living there.”

“What are some of your favorites?” 

“Well, the first game I ever played was Kingdom Hearts for the Playstation 2.” You respond with a fond smile. “But the game that really got me hooked was watching Jack play Gears of War 3. I was watching him play it, joined in, got my first headshot and I fell in love.” You pause for a second. “Are you going to sell this information to Michael?” 

Ryan bellows a laugh at you. “Hell no. I’m just honestly curious. Gears of War 3 is a pretty good game. I’ve played the campaign and some of the different matches.” 

You both continue asking questions back and forth while waiting for dinner, learning so much about each other. Many of the questions end with you both laughing at each other. 

After dinner is finished, you both are walking around town, looking at how everything is lit up and bustling with people. 

“Alright, I have one more question” Ryan states, as you both sit down on a park bench. 

“And what is that?” you ask. 

He pauses for a second and readjusts himself so that he’s looking at you “How long have you had interest in me?”

You feel your heart start to beat faster and blush. “Oh God, this kind of question?” you whine. 

“Yep” Ryan winks. 

“I mean… outside of work, you were my favorite to watch in videos. I always found you funny…and attractive” you mumble not looking at him. “In work, I’m not sure. I guess when we started eating lunches together. I always loved our conversation and the friendship we had. I always felt comfortable around you” you peek up at him and see a gentle smile on his face. “What about you?”

“Since your first day” Ryan says seriously. 

“What?” you exclaim. 

“During your first day. Geoff and Steffie were throwing everything in your direction, plus Michael and Gavin not helping, you were almost overwhelmed. But you had this look of determination, that no matter what they said, you were dedicated to this job. You just fit in with the rest of us. And when I first heard you laugh and smile, I fell.” Ryan smiles at the memory. “And as you said, lunches just made all of that more concrete with me. I know I wasn’t a handful to schedule like the others could be, so I enjoyed every second of our lunches that I possibly could.” 

You feel stunned. The man that you had been also falling for since the beginning admitted the same thing to you. You can’t help but smile your biggest smile at him. Ryan pulls you in for a light kiss on the lips and you both stay like that for a few seconds. 

When he pulls away, he whispers “And look where we are now.” 

You stand up from the bench, and take his hand to pull him into the biggest hug you think you’ve ever given someone, and he hugs you back just as tight. 

When walking back to his truck you think something. 

“I know this is going to sound almost as bad as it did the first night, but would you care to spend the night at my place?” you ask. 

“I’d love a repeat of the night on the chaise” Ryan smiles, and he drives away to your apartment. 

 

You weren’t really sure how you two got to this point. 

You both were walking up your stairs to the apartment one moment, and the next Ryan has you pinned against the door to your apartment with his tongue down your throat. 

You somehow manage to fumble the door open while hardly breaking the kiss, and you both stumble into the tiny apartment. You break away slightly gasping for air, only to be pulled back in by Ryan. 

You both make your way to the couch where he sits and you sit on your knees next to him and feel one hand on your cheek and the other tracing up and down your spine causing you to quiver. 

After another solid ten minutes of this, you both break away for air and relax for a few minutes and just stare at each other until both of your breathing goes back to normal.

“Well then…” you slightly pant. “Can I… can I get you a drink or anything?” You ask. 

“No, no I’m more than fine. Besides, I’m not really in the mood to have you move away from me quite yet” he purrs. 

“How did we get to this point?” you murmur, genuinely seeking an answer. 

“Well, we were walking up the stairs, joking about work and when we both stopped laughing we both kind of….fused at the mouth” Ryan states matter of factly. 

You snort a laugh and he laughs with you. 

“That’s a terrible way to say it” you say as you lightly smack him on the chest as you settle more onto the couch next to him. 

“Okay how about this- making out like crazy teenagers in a cliché movie?” he chuckles. 

“Wow, you managed to make it worse” you say dryly, but can’t help but to smile at him. 

“Sorry, sorry” he says sitting up on the couch to face you. His face becomes more serious as his eyes search yours. 

This time, you’re the one who greedily pulls him in. It was like a battle of dominance between you. You tried to push him back into the position you two were previously in, but he was too strong and he gently made you lay on the couch and was on top of you, but making sure that a lot of his weight wasn’t on you. 

This time when you two break apart, you both see a certain glimpse in each other’s eyes. 

Ryan clears his throat and huskily says “I’m thinking a couch may not be the best place to continue… this…”

“Mmm” is all you can respond with, nodding in agreement. 

He lifts away from you and helps get you up by taking your hand and pulling you towards the bed. 

He sits down on the edge and puts you in the middle of his legs. You lock your arms around his head and knot your hands in his head as he wraps his arms around your hips and pulls you closely to his body. You feel a slight bulge in his jeans that is rubbing against you and your heart starts beating like a humming bird. 

Ryan pulls away rather abruptly and makes his face level with yours. “Y/N, are you sure about this? We don’t have to, we can just go to bed, I’m more than fine with that” he tries to reassure you. 

You roll your eyes with a smile on your face. “Stop. Ryan, I want this, really” the smile spreading more on your face. 

“Good. So do I” he says before pulling you in for another kiss. 

You feel his tongue dance around your mouth and lips for a second, and then it moves down your neck, and you can’t help but to moan at the sensation. As if your moan was a   
sign of encouragement, he moves slightly down to your chest bone and his fingers start unbuttoning the blouse you’ve been wearing the whole day. 

Thank God for putting on good lingerie this morning. Before you know it the last button is undone and he helps you pull off your camisole so you’re just standing there in your bra and skirt. 

He pulls away for a split second to pull off his shirt and when he looks at you, it’s his turn let a moan escape his lips before he is kissing you eagerly. 

“You’re truly beautiful, you know that?” he mutters between kisses as he reaches around to take your skirt off. 

“Mmm you’re pretty handsome yourself” you coyly respond as you step out of your skirts and trace the slightly defined muscles of his chest. 

He stands up and you help him unbutton his pants and he pulls them off to reveal a black pair of boxers. Before you can appreciate the view, you’re being lifted onto the bed. 

“Wha-“you start but soon he’s on top of you like he was on the couch just much more comfortably. 

“I figured this was better” he explained as you straddled you as he started unhooking your bra from the front clasp. 

You bra is quickly flung to the side as you are lightly pushed to lay flat on the bed and you can fell every inch of him pressed up against you and begins to lightly flick his tongue over your breasts. 

“hnnnnnnnnn” is all you manage to get out, until he starts lightly grinding against you and your breath becomes short and shallow gasps. 

He releases your tit from his mouth and begins kissing every inch of your chest and stomach as he’s using his hands to take yours and his underwear off. His kisses get lower and lower until he plunges back up to give you a deep kiss. 

“Please” you beg him as he’s nibbling at your neck. 

“Hmm, didn’t peg you as a beggar, love” he purrs in your ear. “But if you insist…”

Then all of a sudden mouth was on the spot that you were craving and you can’t control the shudder and wail the rip from your body out of pleasure. You feel him laughing into your clit which just causes more sensation. 

He kept doing this incredibly intricate pattern on you that was working incredibly well and it wasn’t very long before you started seeing fireworks 

“Ryan” you gasp as your orgasm ripples through your body. 

He rubs your clit through your orgasms as he kisses you so sweetly you almost worry that he’s done until you feel him plunge in and you let out a gasp as it’s his time to be the one to groan and moan. 

He thrusts in and out while you move your hips in small circular motions. 

“Babe” Ryan groans while looking into your eyes. 

“Your turn” you smile as your press yourself closer to him and speed up the movements of your hips. 

After another few thrusts and he’s now calling your name out before he finishes while kissing you as passionately as he can. 

A few more minutes of kissing until he gently extracts himself from on top of you. He moves the covers from underneath you and lies on his back pulling you closely to his chest. 

“Wow” you murmur into his chest as you plant a kiss above his pec. 

“Wow indeed” Ryan agrees tracing your initial into your back. 

You look up into your eyes and you see something different this time from any other time and you can’t place what it is. 

He gently pulls you in for another kiss, but this one is agonizingly sweet. 

“Never a dull moment with us is there?” he asks aloud in a thick voice. You can hear the exhaustion that’s consuming him.

You laugh lazily, sleep about to take over you as well. You cuddle closer to the warm man next to you, since there is no desire to go put clothes on from either of you. 

“Good night, Ryan” you mumble. 

“Good night, love” he responds and the last thing you feel before fading asleep is him kissing your forehead. 

And that was your first of many sexual escapades with Mr. Haywood


	6. Versus!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Versus!

Today, your alarm clock goes off too soon. 

“Nooo” you whine into Ryan’s chest, snuggling more under the covers. 

You both have been awake for a while, but haven’t said or done much except bask in each other’s presence and exchange a few tender kisses. You just didn’t want this time to end and get ready since work meant that you couldn’t be lounging in bed naked with the man you’re dating. 

“I know, I know” grumbled Ryan as he leaned over to turn off the alarm “Believe me, if we could both afford a mental health day today, we would be seriously taking advantage of it.” He gives you a peck on the lips before gently lifting you off his chest so you both sit up. 

You pout slightly at him as you stretch your naked body, noticing he’s taking in the way your chest lifts, so you stay like that a few seconds longer than you needed to, because you enjoyed the way he was staring with hooded eyes. 

“Are you sure you don’t want call in today?” you purr teasingly at him. 

He blinks a few times, thoroughly considering you offer. But then a large smile appears on his face “We can’t, love. Someone has to make their debut on Versus today” 

You groan as you get up and walk to the bathroom to shower. You turn to look at him before entering and you see him lounging on your bed, daring you to come back into bed with him. But when your glance shifts to the clock, you see that if you don’t rush in the shower now, you both were going to be late. 

When you get out of the shower, you see that he’s not in your room, but you can hear him rummaging around your kitchen.

Since you’re going to be on camera today and have no meetings planned, you decide to wear a good pair of jeans with a cardigan. You didn’t want to look over dressed, but wanted to still look good. 

As you enter your kitchen, Ryan gives you a despairing look. “You only have granola bars for breakfast?” 

“Well, when have I had time to go shopping yet?” You retort as you grab a bar and begin to munch. 

You both sit on the couch eating your bars when your phone starts ringing. When you look you see it’s Jack. 

“Hey, Jack!” you say cheerfully into the phone. 

“Hey, sorry I’m running a little late and I’m about to leave now-“Jack says. In the background you can hear him jumping around, trying to put on his shoes. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it actually, I have a ride” you state, looking at Ryan to double check that he’ll take you to work, which he nods, distracted by getting his own shoes on. 

“Who is giving you- ohhhhhhh my god, Y/N” Jack says realization dawning in his voice. “You didn’t…”

“Got to go, Jack, my ride is waiting for me” you slightly laugh as you hang up. You slip on your shoes and grab your briefcase. 

“What did he say?” Ryan looks at you with a smirk as you lock your door and start heading down the stairs. 

“I didn’t give him the chance to say anything, but he knows” you state as you both reach Ryan’s truck. 

As you settle in the truck, Ryan starts it up and proceeds to back out and head onto the road. Once he’s on the straight away to the office, he reaches for your hand when your phone vibrates from a text message. When you see who it’s from, you groan and laugh almost simultaneously. 

“It’s Caiti, she wants details” you say at Ryan’s questioning look, to which he laughs. 

“What are you going to tell her?” he challenges. 

“Unsure yet” you ponder. As much as you want to tell your best friend the gory details, you also wanted to keep some of what happened to yourself. 

As you pull into the large parking lot, you see Michael and Lindsay exiting their SUV. 

Crap, of all people to see this.

“Oh my god, Haywood, you sly dog!” Michael doubles over and cackles. 

“What?” Ryan feigns confusion, while you look completely livid. 

“Don’t what me! You both totally slept together didn’t you?!” Michael laughs. Lindsay gives him a glare, knowing that he was ticking you off. 

“Um, no actually, I just picked her up this morning to be nice, since her car is still at the shop” Ryan says so nonchalantly, even you believe him for a split second. 

“What- you two didn’t?-“Michael says, looking at both of you completely off guard. 

“Yeah, Michael, don’t jump to conclusions” you say as you breeze past him before he sees how red in the face you were. 

When you enter the building you see Jack managed to make it before you and Ryan, and Geoff was there on time. 

“Hey, y/n, ready for your big debut?” Geoff says excitedly. 

“I guess… when are we going to start?” You look around. You begin to realize how nervous you really were. As much as you talked yourself up to Michael, you were a little skittish about how the community would react to you.

“We’re just waiting for Gavin to stop making out with Meg and that’s about it” Geoff says as Michael comes into the office with Lindsay. He immediately goes over to the game wall and is giving one more once over on the games before he turns to face you. 

“What’s matter, Jones?” You say innocently. “Having second guesses about what game you picked?” 

“No way; I highly doubt you’ve played the game I’ve picked” he says, full of confidence.

“Yeah, there is no way you’re going to win!” Gavin says enthusiastically as he enters the room. You all snicker as he’s trying to wipe away a big lipstick splotch left from Meg. 

“Right…” you say rolling your eyes. 

You feel the room start to buzz with excitement as Kdin comes in with the camera and everyone starts to stand by each of their desks. You stand by Ray’s old desk since its set up for the VS and is also next to Michael’s. When you look at everyone’s face there is a different expression on them: Gavin is looking slightly fearful for his boi, Lindsay is looking  
between you and Michael as if she’s unsure who to route for, Jack is smiling because he’s so proud to see you there, Geoff is giving you a big thumbs up, and Ryan is just sitting at his desk giving you an evil grin; he totally thinks Michael is going to win, you think as you narrow your eyes at him. 

But when you turn to look at Michael who is glaring at you with his arms crossed, whispers “I think Haywood was lying earlier” only so you could hear. 

Before you could say something back, Geoff is shouting “VERSUS” and the room erupts in cheers. 

“Alright, ladies and germs, we got a special treat for you today!” Geoff exclaims into his microphone. “Today, for the biggest beat down we’ve had in ages, we have a new challenger among us!” Kdin pans the camera to your face, where you calmly smile and wave.

“Hey, internet!” you say excitedly, glad your voice doesn’t sound as nervous as you feel.

“We have our lovely secretary assistant, Y/N with us today! If you haven’t seen last week’s episode you might want to so you can get filled in but let’s say there was a bit of a challenge from a Mr. Michael Jonessss!” Geoff says pointing at Michael. Gavin starts clapping furiously for his boi, and you proceed to flip the lads off. 

“Okay, so we have a pretty heated bet going on in the office and people are making bets” Michael explains in the camera. “Everyone is putting down 100 on who they think is going to win, so who do you guys think it’s going to be?” he asks, looking at his wife first. 

“I’m gonna have to go with her, because, ya know girl power.” Lindsay says into her mic as she smiles at you while her husband shakes his head disapprovingly at her. 

“My own wife, turning against me like this” Michael says, pretending to be hurt. “At least I got my boi, right Gavvers?” 

“You bet Micoo!” Gavin shouts fondly, fist bumping Michael. 

“Out of personal experience I definitely think that she’s got it in the bag” Jack remarks, rubbing your shoulder. “She may be our assistant but she can kick ass if she’s in the right mind to!” 

“Alright, Mr. Haywood what do you have to say about this match up?” Geoff says looking at Ryan, while Kdin switches the camera between you and Ryan, who are intensely gazing  
at each other. 

“It really depends on the game… but I’m going to have to support Michael on this” Ryan says as he winks to you. 

“Bastard” You hiss into your mic with an evil grin on your face. 

“Uh ohhhhhhh sounds like Haywood’s not getting any tonight!” Michel shouts into his microphone. 

You roll your eyes and shake your head. “So what are we playing, Jones?” You ask with a hint of annoyance in your voice. 

“Alright, I’m sure you’ve heard of this game, but I highly doubt you’ve ever played it because it doesn’t seem like your type of game” Michael says as he turns on your machines. “It is…THE THIRD GEARS OF WAR!” he shouts triumphantly. 

You, Ryan and Jack all break out in maniacal laughs for a few seconds, and you see Michael’s face go sheet white. 

“Oh my god, you dumb fuck” Jack cries from laughter. “You couldn’t have picked any worse!”

“Am I allowed to change my bet?” Ryan jokes, looking at you knowingly. 

Michael has zero idea of what is in store for him 

“Oh Michael…” you coo at him “Don’t you know that I am the battle mistress in Gears?” 

“Mother fucker….” Michael whispers. 

“Let’s get started shall we?” you purr into the mic. 

As you guys get the game set up, you hear Michael swearing under his breath. 

“Best of five?” you say smugly into the mic as you get comfortable in your seat. 

“Sure. All weapons on the table” Michael responds. 

Three… Two…One… and the loud gonging noise signifies that the first round has begun. 

It’s a map that you know extremely well, and you know the rotation of the weapons. You see Michael’s character hunting for you on the ground floor, not bothering with any of the weapons. He was out for blood. 

You sneakily run to the other side of the building, wall bouncing so Michael has no idea where you’re located. It’s obvious by his pale face and the sweat of his brows that he doesn’t know the game very well himself, and didn’t spend much time practicing. 

You get to the other side and pick up the sniper rifle and take your aim. 

“Ohhhhhhh shit Micoo watch out!” Gavin yelps, but it’s too late. 

The satisfactory sound of bones crunching from the head shot ring throughout the room as Geoff and Jack start laughing their asses off at the look on Michael’s face. He’s  
completely stunned at your slight talent in the game. 

“You bitch…” Michael whispers in tone mixed with awe and annoyance. 

“What? Do you want to give up already?” You ask innocently and shoot him a large smile. 

“Fuck. No.” He growls as the second round has started.

You easily beat him in the next 3 rounds simply by dodging his unaimed shots and getting up and personal with a Gnasher. Everyone in the room is laughing incredibly hard, especially Geoff who is doing his practically howling. Gavin is staring at Michael out of horror, knowing that he’s going to be out 100 dollars from betting on the wrong person. 

Just to be an extra asshole, you decide to win in style. 

You spawn up at the top again and Michael is still running around, searching every section of the map for you. You already grabbed your weapon of choice; you’re just waiting for him to find you. 

“Where the fuck are you?!” Michael yells in his microphone, hands slightly shaking out of anger. 

“So remember our personal bet?” You ask him sweetly, ignoring his question. 

“What about it” He mumbles, slightly distracted. 

“You better keep your fucking word” you say as you see him across the hall. He’s yet to see you, but is unknowingly heading right towards you. “And, Michael?”

“What?”

“Boom.” You whisper into the microphone as you launch the boom shot causing his character’s body to completely explode. 

Geoff and Jack start screaming “YESSSSS” at the top their lungs. Jack practically lifts you from your seat and pulls you into a bone crunching hug. 

Michael throws his controller on the floor and starts saying almost every curse word known to man. 

You laugh as Jack puts you down, and you scoot over to Ryan and he wraps you in his arms and says “I’m proud of you” before he gives you a quick kiss on the lips. 

You’re slightly surprised he kissed you in front of everyone and a recording camera, but you don’t care because of the elation you feel about winning. 

You coyly look at Michael who is simply glaring at you “What? Something you want to say?” 

Michael simply groans and rolls his eyes. You’re surprised he didn’t let a comment slip from how angry he is and after seeing you and Ryan kiss. 

“That certainly is my favorite Versus to date!” Geoff exclaims in the camera. “Thanks for watching this episode of Versus and tune in next week to see who is the next champ” he signals to turn off the camera. And turns to you and shakes your hand that isn’t around Ryan’s waist. “Welcome to the big league, Y/N. This is the first of many of you being in videos” 

You look around the room where you’re surrounded by friends all giving you a pleased look; even Michael begrudges a small smirk at you. You can’t help but feel completely on cloud nine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: for those who may not know, Battle Mistress is the highest award for playing as a female character in online matches in Gears 3.


	7. The Photoshoot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's photoshoot time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For madqueencaroline, who has just been the sweetest ever since I started this adventure <3

It’s the day you’ve been dreading since Tuesday. 

After giving it extreme thought, and a thoroughly convincing Ryan, you decide to go along with Risinger’s shoot. Between Jon and Meg, you weren’t quite sure who was more excited when you tell them your decision. 

“Oh sweetie, shoots are so much fun, I promise” Meg gushes at the news. 

When you sit up in your bed on Friday, you look around your empty room. It seemed too quiet, but then you remember while warm feelings flood your body, Ryan had been sleeping over with you every night until last night. Yesterday, Meg threatened to kill him after the patch if he messed up your “beauty sleep” due to other activities; to remove temptation from you both, Ryan decided it’d be best not to spend the night.

As you move out of bed, your phone starts ringing. 

“Good morning, love” you hear Ryan say into your ear. 

“Mmph, hey” you say groggily, rubbing your eyes vigorously. 

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” you can hear the smirk in his voice. 

You roll your eyes, even though you know he can’t see it. “How did you sleep?”

“Not very well, I admit” Ryan confesses. “It’s odd to be sleeping alone, especially in my own house. However, I’m sure the camera will appreciate the bags under my eyes for this shoot” 

Ryan teases. “Goes with the whole dark and crazy demeanor.”

You laugh “I’m sure they won’t like mine very much, though. It was kind of rough sleeping here without you.” You whisper, slightly not wanting him to hear “I missed you” 

“I’ll see you in an hour” Ryan promises softly. “I’m excited to see your costumes” he says in his seductive tone, and then hangs up. 

You groan as you put your phone on the desk. You haven’t even seen your outfit yet. As soon as you told Meg you were doing the shoots, she took your measurements and sizes   
to see if she could find some things at the local thrift shops. Since she was the queen of cosplay, she was the one handling the outfits. The only thing she told you about yours was to bring your own white blouse and pair of tight black pants. 

As you pull into work, you see you’re one of the last ones to arrive. As you make your way to the AH building you hear Meg call your name from the main building. 

“Good morning, gorgeous!” she squeals, giving you a quick hug. 

When you look at her, you see that her hair and makeup is already done for the shoot. Her hair is freshly dyed her signature red and is completely straight. Her makeup is intense, due to the neon green on her eyelids. 

“Come on, I have to finish Lindsay’s make up” she says as she whisks you away into the building. 

When you enter you the guys are all helping Jon get the set in order; none of them are in costume yet. You see Ryan’s silhouette carrying a large crate off the set and you start wandering towards him, until Meg stops you. 

“Oh no you don’t” she says, playfully tugging you along. “None of the guys get to see us until the big reveal.” 

You grumble as you move into the side room where you see Lindsay who is already in her Mogar outfit. It’s a pair of short cargos with a brown top that showed a bit of midriff and   
ripped at the collar to show a tad of cleavage. Her hair is clamped into tight curlers to try and achieve the curls that Michael naturally has. 

You also see Griffon who is lounging on the couch. She’s wearing some a set of a spandex crop top and leggings that have pieces of foam armor attached to them. The spandex cinches her body in, giving her incredible curves. Her hair is completely natural, as well as her makeup. 

Meg takes off the white robe she was wearing to protect her costume and reveals her outfit. It's a tight green leotard with a cutout shape around the breasts. Looking at the pattern, you can see how she skillfully lined and shaded in darker colors of black and dark green to give the leotard some depth. Over in the corner, you saw a pair of black thigh high boots with a heel that you probably couldn't even stand in. 

All of a sudden the door burst open behind you and all of a sudden you’re being mauled by Caiti who is wearing red high waist shorts and a low cut green v neck to represent her husband. Her makeup is classic and her red lips smile widely as she gives you a giant hug. 

“I’ve missed you so much!” she shrieks in your ear. You giggle and return her hug. 

“I’ve missed you too” you reassure returning her smile. 

“Are you ready for this?” Caiti asks raising her eyebrows. 

“As I’ll ever be, I guess…” 

When you settle in the chair the girls immediately get started. Meg concentrates on your make up while Caiti puts your hair into large sized rollers. Lindsay and Griffon distract you from the primping by talking about some of Griffon’s carvings. 

Then, Meg holds out your outfit. 

“Oh no…” you struggle for words. 

It’s a deep crimson red with black and white accents, looking genuinely like a kilt. However, it looks like Meg got a bit carried away with the hemming. 

“Isn’t it great? I’m so glad I found one! It will look perfect with the blouse. There’s a crown and cape too, but your beau is currently using those props” Meg explains. 

You slip out of your yoga pants and manage to squeeze into the tight kilt and you put on a pair of white thigh highs to go along with it. As you begin to button your blouse, Meg stops you once you button the one just under your bra. 

“Oh, for God’s sake, Meg” you whine. 

“Hush, it’s supposed to be a sexy shoot, so the girls need to get some air.” Meg gives you a once over and you smiles. “He’s going to die when he sees you.”

You turn to look at yourself in the mirror, but you’re unfamiliar with the face staring back at you. This woman had voluminous, flowing hair that hung just past her shoulders and around her bust. Her makeup was something you wouldn’t wear on a daily basis- a dark gray smoky eye paired with blood red lips. 

After you’re done gawking at yourself, you turn to Meg and Caiti. “You guys…” you start. 

But then there is a knock on the door, and Jon peeks in. “Are you girls ready? We’re done with the guys.” 

After another look at the mysterious woman in the mirror, you smile. Oh, there you are, feeling slightly relieved. You realize your nervous jitters are becoming one of excitement. 

You girls line up with Griffon in the front followed by Lindsay, Meg, then Caiti and you. Caiti excitedly grabs your hand and gives it a squeeze as you guys all walk out of the room. 

“Holy mother fucker, Mistress Chief!” Geoff shouts as Griffon walks over him. He grabs her face and plants a giant kiss on her cheek and you hear Griffon’s raspy laugh. 

“Linds, you got to wear this for RTX and cosplay as me” Michael smiles. “I’m digging the curls… and the girls” 

“Jesus, Michael” Lindsay says as she slaps him away, out of embarrassment, but you see a smile on her face; she’s flattered by his compliment. 

Gavin simply wraps Meg in his arms and kisses her shoulder. “You look great, luv” you hear the Brit murmur.

You and Caiti both walk over to where Ryan and Jack are sitting. 

Holy. Fuck. Even though you’ve seen him wear the kilt in a couple of shorts online, you’ve never seen it in person. Along with the extremely tight black v neck he looks… incredibly sexy. With every step closer you drink in more of the site of him, until you see his eyes and how they lock onto yours. You realize that he was doing the same to you. 

As you walk closer to him, he stands and wraps his arms around you, but keeping his face pulled back to look at yours… and down your cleavage that was pressing against his thin shirt. 

“You look…” He seems lost for words, but from the face you can tell what he means. His eyes are looking at you like he’s been starved and there’s a mouth watering meal right in front of him.

“You too…” you say, as your feel your eyes become heavy with lust. 

“Ryan, I swear if you mess her make up or her hair up, I’m going to punch you so hard that you won’t be using the thing hiding under the kilt” Meg darkly threatens. 

You see Ryan roll his eyes and hear a slightly frustrated growl as he puts both hands on under each side of your cheek and gives you a very light kiss on your forehead. 

“Okay, ladies, ready to begin?” Jon asks as he turns on some fun music for everyone to listen to. 

The order of the modeling is the same as how you girls came out. After each mini session for the girls, Jon does a few of each of the couples together, but the main couples shoot   
was going to be the GTA shoot.

You attempt to watch the other girls and their poses, trying to take notes on what you’re going have to do, but Ryan tracing your back and blatant staring at you slightly divides your attention. 

“Can I help you?” You say in a low tone, looking at him without turning your head. 

“You certainly can” Ryan says as he leans forward and puts his lips near your ear “You have zero idea how delectable you look right now” His hand starts tracing up and down your thigh, causing it to slightly spazz and you to let out a breathy moan. 

“The feelings are mutual, I assure you” you say, voice filled with want. 

“I wish we could run off into that side room, and I could sit you on the couch and open those long legs of yours” he says, nuzzling your neck, giving it feather light kisses, causing you to get goose bumps. 

“Okay, Y/N, it’s your turn” Jon calls out to you.

Ryan lets out a sigh as he sees you get up. You smile sweetly at him and give him a big wink. You decide you’re going to have tons of fun with this shoot.

Jon hands you the crown, the cape, and the Minecraft diamond sword. “Relax and have fun. Keep switching poses about every 5 seconds or so” 

Meg, Caiti and even Michael cheer for you. “Work it, girl!” Michael shouts while snapping his fingers as Meg cranks up the music.

Perfect, you think. I can work with this. 

You take your place on set and look over to see Ryan, who is leaned over in his chair, with a hand over his mouth, intensely gazing at you. 

You start modeling around, slightly dancing around to the music, getting into it. You first turn put the crown over your head, turn away from Jon, and toss the cape over your left shoulder, and put the sword in your right hand, pointing it down to the ground. You look over your right shoulder and look at Jon for a few seconds, and then you switch to face him for another few seconds. 

You realize that you come up with poses quickly and easily. It’s really fun, you have to admit. You definitely see why Meg does it on the side, but after today is done, you don’t really think you’ll do it again.

You put the cape around you and then put the diamond sword across your shoulders, and you look towards Ryan with a wicked grin and fire dancing in your eyes. You see him stand, and it’s as if he’s about to march right over to you and take you right then and there. 

“Awesome job, Y/N!” Jon says as Meg turns down the music slightly. “Now for one with Ryan. You keep the cape and sword, but give him the crown.” 

You toss the crown towards your lover, who catches it in one hand with ease. As he gets closer, you point the sword at his throat, and his eyebrows raise, a wicked grin starting to spread on his face. 

“Who are you, mystery woman?” the Mad King asks, loud enough for everyone to hear. And you hear everyone ooooh from a distance. 

“Why should I tell you?” you challenge, raising an eyebrow of your own. 

“I’d like to know the name of the lady who dares wear my cape and point my own sword against me.” The king replies. 

“I shall tell you none of my secrets” you purr. 

“Well, I think I have finally met my match” Ryan says, pushes the sword aside and puts his hands around your waist and leans forward so that you’re leaning slightly back, but your foreheads are touching. “Rule this kingdom along my side, my love” he murmurs. 

You both hold that positions for a few seconds longer, then you turn to see everyone just staring at you two with varied looks of surprised on your face. 

“Well then” Jon says after a beat. “What a way to end the Minecraft shoot!” 

“Is it hot in here or is it just these two?” Meg calls out to you both. You both laugh slightly evilly. 

“Holy goddamn shit, guys” Geoff says. “I thought we were going to watch you two fuck right then and there” 

“Geoff!” you yelp as you feel your sensual façade fade. 

“Hey, it was pretty hot” Griffon says shrugging her shoulders. 

“It was kind of weird for me to witness” Jack mumbles, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

As Michael begins to open his mouth to comment on the matter, you interrupt. 

“Remember our bet” you sing at him and he lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Okay guys, everything looks really good” Jon says, making his way to the group after quickly looking through the photos. “Why don’t we all break lunch and then come back to for the GTA shoot?”

Everyone agrees; you girls go back to the other room, while the guys go get changed in the Achievement Hunter office. 

“That was intense” Caiti comments to you as you both start walking back to the other building.

“Hey, I just went with it” you say as you shrug your shoulders. 

“You must not play fair in the bedroom” Caiti smirks at you. 

You enter the office to see that all the guys are changed, aside from Gavin who is struggling to put his shirt on. 

“Shall we all do a group lunch?” Jack asks, grabbing his car keys. 

“I’m sure a certain couple won’t be joining us” Geoff says looking between you and Ryan. 

You haven’t looked Ryan in the face since you noticed everyone staring at you two, but you can practically feel the heat of his stare radiating off you. 

“Geoff, please” you say, snorting and rolling your eyes. “Of course we’ll join, right, Ry?” You say lazily, not looking at him. You’re trying to see how long he can last before he drags you out of here to somewhere to take full advantage of you. 

“Sure. I’m starving” he says coolly. Only you hear the infliction on his voice when he says starving. A slight chill runs up your spine. 

“Y/N, will you ride with Jack and me? I have seen you in forever it seems” Caiti pouts at you. 

“Of course Caiti-cat!” you say cheerfully. It’d do you good to just hang with her and Jack in the car like old time. 

“Ry, you can ride with us” Lindsay offers. 

“If you jack off in our car though-“Michael threats. 

“Quiet, Jersey Boy” Ryan threats right back, but his comes out slightly more menacing. “Don’t think that you can tease me because you lost the bet with her. I’m certainly not your   
next victim.” 

“Chill, Haywood” Michael says rolling his eyes, completely unnerved by Ryan. “Come on Linds. Let’s get the car started” 

As everyone leaves, Ryan grabs your hand before you can make an escape. Soon it’s just you two left in the room. 

“You are playing one dangerous game, you know that, love?” Ryan says as he pushes himself completely against you, and you feel his rock hard cock through his pants and your thin yogas. 

“What game are you talking about, sweetheart?” you say sweetly, finally looking up to him, and you freeze. 

His eyes are like a blue fire and they burn intensely into yours and he stares you down. You feel yourself melting. 

“You’ll find out later” Ryan’s voice sounding smooth as silk. 

He leans down to you, and you prepare yourself for the seduction of his lips, but instead he just kisses you sweetly for a split second. He lets you go quickly and before you can stop him, he’s laughing and walking out the door. 

You really were in trouble. 

 

As soon as you all arrive back at the Rooster Teeth property, you girls are being herded back into the small room by Meg. 

Luckily for everyone aside from Meg, your makeup just needs minor touch ups. You slide the dark red lipstick over your mouth, making mental note that you should buy this color   
for yourself in the future. Meg wipes off the green make up she has and does a cat eye with her eyeliner.   
For hair, Lindsay starts shaking her hair as if she’s at a heavy rock concert to try and loosen the curls a little. Griffon takes some gel and slicks back all of her hair, even over the side where here undercut is. Caiti begins to tease your hair gently to start giving you a slightly disheveled look. 

Again, Meg hands you your outfit and, once more, you groan. 

It’s a black corset with deep blue leather paneling. 

“Meg, what are you trying to do to me?” You say as you shake your head, staring at the garment. 

“Hey, it’ll cover up more of your boobs than your blouse” she says as she winds in around you and starts lacing the back. Fortunately, she just laces it so it’s tied, not to stop you from breathing. 

You look around at the other girls. Out of all of them, you have to admit that Griffon looks the most bad ass. She’s wearing a full tux, with a bow tie. Her outfit didn’t reveal anything but the tattoos on her hands, but you could still feel the sexy dominance from the tux. Lindsay was wearing a tight pair of jeans with combat boots along with a beige tank top and a brown leather jacket that you’ve seen her wear into the office on chilly days. Caiti’s outfit was a little silly, but that’s because Jack’s female character was always dressed a little odd. She was wearing the same red shorts from earlier, but with a Hawaiian shirt tied under her chest. Meg’s outfit was probably the simplest, but Meg would look good if she was wearing a potato sack. Her outfit was a pair of dark denim high waist shorts with a simple white tank top that looked slightly tattered, with an open light denim shirt over it. You look at yourself last. 

Admittedly, the corset did cover your chest up more than the flimsy blouse did, but the fact that it was an actual corset made you feel slightly insecure. But when you look in the mirror, you did acknowledge you look like a female version of Ryan’s twisted character. 

Again, you all parade out, greeted by clapping from the men. Instead of the big greeting you got last time, Ryan strides up behind you and rests his chin on top of your head, rubbing your slightly chilly bare arms. 

The first couple up was Griffon and Geoff. For their session, they had a desk in the middle of the set, facing perpendicular from where Jon was. First they leaned over the desk barely a nose hair apart, both pointing over a piece of paper that was supposed to represent a map of Los Santos. Then, Griffon sat on the desk and looked over at her husband as he sat in the chair. Their final photo was them switching places so that Griffon was lounging in the chair with her feet on the desk, and Geoff feigning dead on the floor.   
The couples continue on, each using a prop or two. Michael and Lindsay each had a prop that looked similar enough to the rocket launchers, Caiti and Jack used a bag of fake money as well as some loose fake bills, and Meg and Gavin used pink pistols for theirs. 

Then, it was Ryan’s and yours turn. For your first photo, Ryan had the mask on, holding you from behind with a fake gun pointing under your neck, but instead of looking frightened you grin wickedly at the camera. The next photo is one where you remove his mask and you have it in your right hand as he cups your face, looking at you intensely. As you both stare at each other for the few seconds, you see that none of the passion from earlier has flared out. For your last few photos, Jon asks for Gavin’s help. After he and Meg finish his shoot, he started getting the phantom ready. You and Ryan were to walk forward, look back at the explosion that Jon was going to edit in, look at each other then at Risinger’s camera. As you both walk forward you both simultaneously do what was required. As Gavin pans his camera up to yours and Ryan’s faces, you can’t help but to look at Ryan and smirk, and Ryan’s face mirrors yours. 

“Okay, everyone and that is a wrap for the day!” Jon says brightly. “Awesome, awesome job you guys! This will be amazing to show before your panel!” Jon waves goodbye to everyone as he walks away, heading to his office. 

“What, so no foreplay talk this time?” Michael remarks at you as you all are walking back to your home building

“What the hell, Michael” you whine at him. You knew he couldn’t stay quiet for much longer. The fact that he lasted this long was unbelievable. 

“I did my time” Michael looks at you smugly. You can’t help but to agree. 

The guys enter the building while you girls enjoy the sunshine for a few seconds before walking in. 

“So do you want me to bring over some wine and movies tonight?” Caiti asks, looking at you.

Shit. You forgot she was spending the weekend with you. You internally groan… so when does Ryan expect to put you through all the trouble you caused? You were really hoping it was going to be over the course of the weekend, but now it looks like you’re going to have to agonizingly wait until Monday at the earliest.

“Yeah, that sounds great” you say to Caiti, slightly putting false cheer into your voice. You didn’t want her to think you forgot about your best friend. 

When you ladies enter the Achievement Hunter room, you scan the area and you don’t see Ryan anywhere. Maybe he went to the bathroom.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m exhausted” Geoff says, putting his arm around Griffon. “We could get ahead on some recording, but I think we all deserve a day to head out early and prove to our ladies how much we adored how they looked today.” He waves as the married couple heads out.

“Cheers mate!” Gavin says joyfully as he and Meg begin to leave. 

“By the way, Y/N, those garments are yours now. Enjoy them” Meg says as she winks and walks by. 

Michael and Lindsay both head out and you hear Michael lovingly say “Did I tell you that you were the most beautiful girl of all of them?” You don’t hear Lindsay’s response as the outdoor closes. 

“Alright, lady, I’ll be over in about a couple hours” Caiti says excitedly, and you can’t help but to get excited as well. 

“Jack, where did Ryan go off to?” you ask before he leaves out the door. 

“I think he’s in your office, actually” Jack nods his head down the hall, and you see that your light is on. “I think he wanted to grab something”

“Oh… okay” you say, slightly confused. Nothing of Ryan’s was in your office. 

You walk down the hall as Jack and Caiti both leave. When you open the door to your office, you see Ryan sitting on your chair, leaning back with his leg crossed of the other, with his eyes close, as if he were trying to nap. 

“Hey there” you whisper into the silent room. 

All of a sudden, Ryan launches out of the chair and practically tackles you against the wall and bruises his mouth against yours. 

As you pull away for a ragged breath, you look into his eyes. He looks slightly angry, but you know it’s only because he’s been waiting to do this for hours. 

“Do you know” he growls at you “Do you know how hard it was for me to not fuck you in front of everyone during that little scene? How I wanted to rip that blouse right off of you then and there?” 

“I’m sure as badly as I wanted to pounce you” you breathlessly reply. 

He kisses you while peeling off your yoga pants and grasps your butt and groans out of satisfaction that you aren’t wearing any underwear. He picks you up and walks backwards until he flops down onto the large bean bag, with you now on top of him. You can feel him as your straddling him and he slightly angles his pelvis up more so you can feel his dick to more of an extreme. He pulls your breasts out of your top and gives your nipples a firm tweak, and you can’t help the pleasured whine the escapes from your lips. 

You slightly move away so that you slide off of his lap and onto your knees on the floor. You start unbuttoning his pants and pull down his underwear and jeans down to the floor. You face is completely level with his large member as he slightly props himself up to get a better view of your naked ass and your tits resting outside of your shirt. 

“Enjoying the view?” you murmur slightly shaking your ass as you put a hand around his dick. 

“I could get used to you on your knees, my evil queen ” he says, his eyes not leaving yours. 

“Well” you say, lightly kissing the head, “I live to serve the Mad King” and then you put all of him in your mouth. 

You hear such a satisfied noise from him that you’ve yet to hear, so you keep going, swirling your tongue on the head and pumping his shaft in rhythmic movement. 

Then all of a sudden he leans over and picks you up off the floor and back onto him, but this time he thrusts all the way in you and you both moan each other’s name at the exquisite feeling. You perch yourself up and place both of your hands on his chest as you begin to ride him at a fast pace, your clit grinding against his pelvis. Again, he props himself up on one arm as his other hand freely roams your body from your stomach, your chest, and your cheek. You pick up the pace even more so and you know he’s about ready to come. 

“Come for me, my king” you say, making your voice as velvety smooth as you possibly can. 

Ryan’s response was a loud moan along with some major thrusts on his part that sends you tumbling over the edge and into your own orgasm and you collapse on top of him, gasping for air. 

He pulls you face up to his and you see a look of wonder and that other emotion you haven’t been able to quite place yet. It’s an emotion you always see on his face after you two have sex, or first thing in the morning when you first open your eyes at him

“How was that?” you ask. It was the first time you’ve officially have taken control between the two of you. 

“Remarkable” He says gently to you. The fire that had been in his eyes throughout the day was now more of molten blue. “You never cease to amaze me” 

You giggle and lean down to give him a kiss before standing up and putting your pants back on. He follows suit and zips up his pants. 

“So what now, my queen?” he asks giving you a large hug. 

“Now, I have to go to my house and prepare for company” You sigh. “Caiti’s spending the night, remember?”

“I do, that’s why I came in here. To lure you away before I don’t see you for a full two days” he grins while winking at you. 

“You ass” you laugh. It was a clever plan that worked really, really, well. “You should definitely come over on Sunday night though, once she leaves. It’s going to be bad enough   
going 3 nights in a row without you. And I’ll want a nice night of sleep before Monday Meeting day” you joke, hoping slightly that you didn’t sound desperate for his constant attention. 

“I’m already looking forward to it, love” He whispers against your lips for once last kiss before opening the door. 

You look around the room before you turn off the lights and shut the door. You won’t be able to forget this memory that is now associated with this space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Probably the most fun one to write so far!   
> Unfortunately, after today, I will only be uploading chapters on Saturdays until the end of this series (don't worry that's a long ways away!). On Monday I start a new job, so I need to dedicate my time and concentration to that, but I promise that I will keep uploading every Saturday unless something completely crazy comes up! Thank you all for being on this journey with me, I can't thank you all enough! If you want to ever talk or whatever, feel free to find me on tumblr under Queen-Nice-Dynamite. Thank you all again!


	8. The Weekend

Its a couple weeks after the photo shoot, during lunchtime. 

“So, I’ve been thinking” Ryan says before taking a bite of his sandwich. 

“That’s scary” you say sarcastically, but with a smile. “What are you thinking?”

“Please don’t insult my intelligence, I have a frail ego, you know” Ryan retorts jokingly. 

You laugh as you take a sip of your iced tea. “I apologize. What are you thinking, oh intelligent one?”

He throws you a mocking look of annoyance, but continues “Well, we’ve been spending a lot of time at your place; I was thinking that maybe this weekend we could change it up and go to mine.”

You’re slightly surprised at the mention of his place, but are excited to see where he lives. No one from Achievement Hunter has been over to his house before. 

“Sure. I could use a change of scenery” you respond with a smile. “I’m just going to need to stop at home and grab some clothes before we go.”

Ryan gives you a look of muted desire. “Do you really think that you’ll be wearing clothes the majority of the time?” 

“I need some” you laugh, but you feel your cheeks get slightly pink. 

You had to admit, you and Ryan have been crazy for each other since the first time you two did it. Sex was pretty much the first and last thing you both did every day. Sometimes it was wild and exciting, other times a slow burning passion full of embracing and kissing, but it always ended with you both curled into each other under the covers, and him giving you that blazing look that you couldn’t figure out what it meant. 

“Fine, if you insist” Ryan sighs dramatically. “We’ll head out together after work.”

You both throw away your lunches and he gives you a big hug and kiss before heading out of your office. You feel your heart starting to pound out of excitement for the weekend.  
The rest of the day seems to drag because you’re excited. The meeting you and Steffie had with Barb went smoothly because everything was still in the planning phase when it came to scheduling. 

When you came back from the meeting, you heard the guys talking in their office, and by the sounds, it seemed like they were done for the day. You quickly headed into your office to grab your briefcase before heading into their room.

“Good job with the rough schedule, Y/n” Steffie complimented as she was packing her bag.

“Thanks, Steffie. I think Barb is happy with what we have so far. I thinkwe may have to have to get Geoff in on the next meeting so he can discuss plans for what is going on during the live let’s play.” You say as you finish your bag. “Is there anything you want me to work on over the weekend?” 

“No, don’t worry about it!” Steffie says with a smile. “Before you even realize it, we’ll be in meetings all day and crunching schedules and times. Enjoy the calm before the storm. See you Monday!” and Steffie is out the door. 

When you walk into the Achievement Hunter office, you almost run into Gavin leaving. 

“Sorry, love!” Gavin yelps as he collides into you. 

“Its fine, Gav” you reply once you balance yourself. “Also, you’re not needed for this coming podcast. I think Barb said something about having Miles and Kerry on it to talk about some RVB stuff.” 

“Alright, thanks! See you!” Gavin exits the building to go in search for his girlfriend. 

Entering the room, you see that Geoff has already left, so you make a mental note to talk to him about joining next Friday’s meeting in your head. Jack is finishing up something on his computer and Michael is getting ready to film his Rage Quit. Ryan is simply sitting in his chair, looking at the door. 

“Did Gavin almost wipe you out?” he says with a laugh. 

“Yeah, yeah” you say with a laugh. “Gavin and I together is not a graceful pairing.” 

“Well, are you ready to get going, dear?” Ryan asks as he stands and tosses his messenger bag over his shoulder. 

“Mhmm” you nod. “See you boys Monday.” 

“Are you going to be at your apartment this weekend?” Jack asks, turning away from his computer to look at you. “I was thinking I could help you with your cable box.”

“Err… no. I’m going to Ryan’s for the weekend.” When you say that, Michael turns around to look at you and Ryan. 

“If you two have an Enchilada night without all of us, I’m going to be completely devastated!” Michael exclaims. “Y/N, you probably don’t even know what that joke’s from!” 

“Michael, I’ve watched a fair share of videos, I know what you’re referencing” you say with an eye roll. “And Mexican does sound good tonight….” You take Ryan’s hand and walk out the door, giving Michael a quick wink while he proceeds to flipping you off. 

 

Once you’re done packing your bag and double checking the locks on your car, you climb into Ryan’s truck, and you’re off to his place. 

During the drive, you guys just talk about work and upcoming events with the company. There was some silence as you both enjoyed the radio. You didn’t really peg Ryan as a country station guy, but you suppose that’s partly from growing up in the south his whole life. 

When you finally pull up to your house, you take in the site of it. Compared to Jack and Caiti’s, it was small, but still decent sized. It’s a white two story house, with a small front yard and a very small porch. There was a garage/shed in at the end of the driveway that Ryan parked his truck outside of. 

You get out of the truck as Ryan grabs your bag from the back seat, and you walk up the side walk to the house. From the large windows, you see that the living room is on the right, and a small kitchen on the right. You wait for Ryan to walk up the path and unlock the front door, and you both enter. 

Looking around, you sort of fall in love with it. The living room isn’t large, but it has a lot of space. The walls are a pale green that go well with the dark wood flooring. It’s not overly furnished, but you remember that only one person is living in this house. There is a large TV with black leather furniture set around it. In the corner of the room, you see a set of stairs that lead to the second floor. Down the hall you see a small bathroom. 

You look to your right and you see the entrance to the kitchen. You immediately see a round table with four chairs around it with the sunshine shining down on it through the large windows. The kitchen is painted a pale yellow with white cupboards and contrasting dark granite counter tops. It’s very cozy and quaint. 

When you look back at Ryan, you can tell he’s been watching you look around trying to figure out what you think of the house. 

“So what do you think?” he asks. 

“I love it. It’s so nice and quaint.” You say warmly. 

“I’m glad you like it. I remodeled it myself. It was in pretty rough condition when I bought it. It’s been my project on vacations to keep myself busy. Thankfully, it's almost done with.” 

“I’m impressed. You have a good eye with interior decorating” you say with a smirk

Ryan gives you a hug a from behind and kisses the top of your head. “Why don’t you get settled in and get out of these nice work clothes?” contradicting his words, he pulls you in closer and starts sliding his hands around your hips, lightly kissing your cheek and neck. 

“Mmm, want to help me?” you murmur, slightly leaning your body against his. 

“As much as I’d love to, I’m going to get dinner ready” he laughs as he pulls away and turns you around to see your slightly pouting face. 

“What are we having for dinner?” you ask curiously. “Enchiladas?”

“I have a couple of steaks that I can cook up. Does that sound good?” 

You feel your mouth slightly water at the mention of steaks. “Sounds amazing.”

“Good. My bedroom is the room on right when you go up the stairs.” Ryan goes into the kitchen, and you head up the stairs. 

When you enter the bedroom, you almost feel at ease. Your feet are instantly cushioned by light gray carpeting. The walls of the room are painted a navy blue with white moulding. The king sized bed is covered by a stark white comforter with a dark gray throw folded at the bottom of it. The dresser and night stands on either side are completely black. Something about how the light trickled through the white curtains made the room feel very comforting and the bed inviting. 

You change into a pair of jeans and your Ryan achieve shirt and pad your way downstairs again. 

As you walk down the stairs, you can already smell the steaks cooking on the stove, as well as some vegetables. When you get into the kitchen, you see Ryan pouring you each a glass of Diet Coke. When he sees you in the entrance way, he brings your cup over with an appreciative look. 

“As much as I dislike seeing things about me on a shirt, I do like seeing you wear them around” Ryan states with a smile. “I only have Diet Coke, milk and water to drink. I assumed that Diet Coke would be the best option.”

“You are correct” you say taking the glass and giving him a peck on the cheek in thanks. “And I like this shirt a lot. I mean, Mad King series really got me hooked into  
Achievement Hunter, honestly. They were the first Minecraft episodes I watched.” You admitted, slightly getting embarrassed. Ryan didn’t know that he was a big part of the reason you got into Achievement Hunter. 

Ryan smiled “Those and heists are some of my favorites. I also didn’t know that I was a reason you took an interest. You must have been so sad to see I wasn’t in the earlier Minecrafts” he said with a teasing tone.

“A little” you concede. “But it was fun seeing everyone trying to figure out what the fuck they were doing in the early days.” Wanting to get off the subject about how you were such a fan girl back in the day, you offer to help with dinner. 

You set the table and Ryan loads up the plates with food, and you both sit at the table and begin to eat. He did an amazing job. 

“Wow, this is incredible. I’m a sucker for a good steak” you say between bites. 

“I am too.” he agrees. “I’ve always liked cooking. It’s a different way to be creative” 

“Is there anything you can’t do?” you ask; only slightly kidding. 

“Plenty” he responds and shrugs his shoulders. “I just have hobbies and the few things I do take interest in, I like to work on perfecting. Plus, I have had a lot of time to myself, so I  
have to keep busy”

You nod your head because you know what it’s like to have a lot of time to yourself, except your hobbies consisted of Netflix or surfing the internet, not renovating a house and cooking nice meals. 

When dinner is done, you help him by cleaning the dishes while he puts them away. While you’re scrubbing one of the pans, you notice Ryan giving you that special look that he usually only gives you in bed. 

“What?” you turn to look at him suspiciously. 

“Nothing” he shrugs, but you can hear the slight lie in his voice as he continues to put away the pan you scrubbed.

“Tell me” you coax, turning to lean against the sink and look and him full on. 

“It’s just that…” he hesitates. “I like seeing you here, in my house. It’s really nice” 

You feel yourself blush, but can’t help but to smile. “I like being here too. It’s an adorable house. We may need to come here every weekend” you tease. 

"Or we could move you in” Ryan counters with a smirk. 

You then feel all the blush rush away from your face. Move in? But you two have only been together a month or so at this point. You just got officially settled and arranged your apartment the way you want it. Plus, your apartment contract doesn’t end until you’ve lived at your apartment for 6 months. 

“Move in?!” you stutter out looking at him. 

“Well, you just got settled and everything in your own place, and you said how your lease won’t be up for another 5 or so months give or take, so we probably won’t think about that until then…” you can tell he registered your reaction and was trying to back pedal slightly. “But yeah, eventually.” He whispers with a small smile. 

You roll your eyes and you take the faucet and proceed to spray him quickly with some water and laugh at his reaction. All of a sudden you feel yourself being scooped up and being carried into the living room. He plops you the couch and then sits next to you. 

“Oh really, the couch?” you say as you cuddle up next to him and kiss his neck. “I was thinking more of that nice bed you have upstairs” 

Ryan laughs as he pulls you in closer. “Someone’s impatient” he says with a raised eyebrow. 

“Someone’s not” you tease back. 

“I thought we could let food digest a little bit and watch a movie before going to bed.” 

“Sounds nice” as you settle into the couch and lean your head against his chest as he uses the remote to turn on a movie. 

Just after the intro of the movie, you feel your eyelids start to droop. It was a long day, and being on the comfy couch with Ryan was just what you needed. He wouldn’t mind if you took a small nap, right?

All of a sudden, you’re being shaken lightly. 

“Babe, it’s one in the morning” you hear Ryan groggily say. 

“mmm so?” you grumble back trying to snuggle into him more. 

“I have a bed, you know. It’d be much comfier to sleep on than the couch.” Ryan leans you up right and stands up off the couch and offers you his hand. 

“Fine, fine” you mumble at him, taking his hand. 

When you both get up the stairs and into the bedroom, you both undress from your day clothes and into pajamas. You throw on one of Ryan’s larger shirts and hop into bed as he  
just flops onto the bed in just his boxers. 

You slightly wake up at the sight of him in his boxers, and you get close to him and start kissing him on his shoulders and chest. 

You hear Ryan’s low chuckle as he strokes your hair. “Someone awake now?”

“Not really” you admit. “I just like kissing you.”

Ryan pulls your face up to his and you both begin to make out in a tight embrace. There’s something drugging about this kiss, because before you know it, you both start to ease off and drift to sleep. 

When you wake up on Saturday, you look over your shoulder to see Ryan’s face, still sound asleep and lightly snoring into your ear. You can’t help but to grin at how peaceful he looks. 

You manage to extricate yourself from his hold without waking him up. When you look at the clock on the wall, you are surprised. It’s a little past noon. You haven’t slept in that much in ages. 

You go to the master bathroom down the hall, and you wipe off the make up from yesterday that was smeared over your face. Looking at the bathroom, you can’t help but to appreciate how much work Ryan put into this house. The bathroom had pale beige tiling with a deep red accent tiling on the wall. The giant tub and shower looked completely inviting, but you thought to wait until Ryan got up to use either of those two amenities. 

You stumble down the stairs, and notice that there is no coffee maker, but you don’t really mind. You grab a water bottle from the fridge and take a few sips looking around the cheerful kitchen and think about how Ryan said that you could move in eventually. As tempting as it sounds to share this cozy home with him, you remind yourself that you just got out of a situation where you were living with people. And even though Ryan spent a majority of his time at your place, you appreciated the moments of alone time that you had. You weren’t sure if you were quite ready to give that up yet. 

As you’re thinking, you hear your stomach audibly growl. You want to wait for Ryan, but you need something, and who knows when he’ll wake up.  
You pad your way to the cupboards and look to see if there are any granola bars or something like that. As you open the doors, you see that there is some cereal on the highest shelf. You have to stand on your tip toes to even try and get it. You give it another try, and you can feel Ryan’s shirt ride up so that you feel cool air on your butt. 

All of a sudden, you hear Ryan chuckling in the entryway to the kitchen, and you look over at him while still on your tiptoes. You notice that he’s looking directly at your bare ass with a look of lust. 

“Care to help me?” you ask as you wiggle your butt at him. 

Ryan strides over directly behind you and you can feel how hard he is from both sleep and seeing you like that. He easily grabs the box of cereal and sets it on the counter, but he doesn’t move from behind you. Ryan wraps one arm around your waist, and the other snakes its way up to your breasts, and you can feel in lightly tug on your nipple. You sharply inhale at how good it feels. 

“Care to help me now?” Ryan whispers into your ear, and begins to nibble down your neck. 

“I saw how nice your master bathroom is” you trail off, hoping that he gets the hint. 

He does, and he enthusiastically tosses you over his shoulder and makes his way for the stairs, you giggling all the way. 

When you both enter the bathroom, Ryan turns the shower on and steam promptly begins to fill the room. 

You strip off his shirt that you were wearing as he takes his boxers off and he’s embracing you and kissing you with such a passion it makes your heart soar. You greedily respond and lock your fingers into his hair. 

The two of you slightly stumble into the tub and Ryan gets turns on the faucet so that water is pouring down both of your bodies. You look at him hungrily as the water drips down him, slightly accenting the muscles of his chest and abs. When you look at his face, he is fixated on the water sliding down your curves. 

“I could easily get used to this site” Ryan says breathlessly. “You’re gorgeous” 

You pull him closer to you, and let your slick bodies rub against each other, and your hand makes its way down to his hard shaft and you begin to pump it. A low groan escapes him and he begins to insert his fingers into you and you begin to moan as well as your eyelids begin to flutter. 

After a couple minutes of that, Ryan gently spins you around, and you lean forward, grabbing the wall in front of you. You wiggle your ass at him again, and look behind you. 

When you see Ryan’s eyes, they are a dark pool of lust and want. “Like this view too?” you coo coyly at him. 

With that being said, he promptly inserts himself, and you begin to go to town. You grind your hips into him slowly, but making every movement exaggerated so that you both feel the intensity. Ryan is completely losing himself at the feeling, and you’re right up there with him. 

“Oh my god” you say before you practically crumble. 

Ryan finishes soon after with an extremely satisfied groan. He pulls you up from your position and turns you to face him, and kisses you energetically. You can’t help but to laugh after a few seconds. 

“How is your back, love?” Ryan asks, rubbing it. Combined with the water and his kneading, the small amount of soreness you felt melts away. 

“Fine, dear” you reassure. “This definitely needs to happen more” you say excitedly. 

Ryan laughs loudly at your enthusiasm and agrees. “Come on, let’s actually wash up, and then we can have breakfast.” 

 

Later in the evening, you both were sitting on the couch after dinner, just lazily flipping through channels, more occupied with each other than what was on TV, when Ryan got an idea.

“I know something that we can do” Ryan says as he jumps up from the couch. 

“And what’s that?” you as curiously. “We’ve pretty much had sex in every room in your house…” 

“Well, not one room, but I have another idea on what we can do there” Ryan winks and heads up the stairs. 

Instead of turning to the right into the bedroom, Ryan opens the door to the left and you see his “man cave”; except, it was a man cave that even you were envious of. 

It was a game room. The room wasn’t as large as his bedroom, but was still spacious. There was a TV about the same size as the one downstairs on a giant entertainment center. By the door to your right, was a desk with some paperwork and a very nice desktop that you assumed that doubled as his work and gaming computer. The majority of the room was lined with racks that held a plethora of different games. In the middle of the room by the TV was a nice gaming chair that must have been custom made for him. 

“This is awesome!” you exclaim as you begin to look at the shelves. 

“I want to do something” Ryan said, striding over to a specific shelf. He grabs a game, and pops it into his 360 and hands you a controller. “You can use my chair. I’ll use my office chair.” 

You sit down and stare the screen waiting for the game to load up. You glance at him, slightly confused, but you see his evil grin on his face. 

“What are you doing” you say cautiously. 

“Well, clearly Michael was no match for you, but Michael also didn’t practice” Ryan starts explaining. “I’ve been practicing” 

You look at the screen and see the familiar Gears logo on the screen, and you return his evil smirk. 

“Oh, it’s on” you say, getting ready for the game to begin. 

Ryan was much tougher competition. You can tell that he’s been practicing the game a lot. He’s really good and can counter most of your attacks by predicting your next moves. But you still had tricks up your sleeves that he didn’t see from the VS. 

Overall, Ryan is right on par with you, but due to a couple of risky moves and breaking your patterns (plus a lot of luck, but you'd never admit that), you win over all, much to the frustration at Ryan. 

He gives you a teasing glare “You really fight dirty, you know”

“Hey, sorry you can’t keep up with me” you shrug feeling smug. “This game is my pride and joy. I’m not this good at other games.” 

“I will admit though, aside from the photo shoot, I’ve never felt so frustrated and turned on at the same time” he says playfully as he turns off the game and spins your chair to face him. 

“Oh really? Do you like it when I kick your ass? You say leaning forward so your cleavage is showing to him. 

“Yep” Ryan quickly says before he tackles you out of his chair and you’re both on the floor. 

Then you both officially defile every room in his house. 

 

Sunday morning felt like it came too soon. This time when you wake up, naked in bed, you see that Ryan is awake before you, giving you that blazing look 

“Good morning, love” he says in a low voice and places a hand on your cheek. “Did you sleep well?” 

“Mmhmm” you nod as you stare into his eyes. “You?” 

“Always when you’re around.” And he gives you a light kiss on the forehead. 

You both bask in the sunlight, looking into each other’s faces for a few minutes. He keeps giving you that look. After seeing it so often this weekend, you just had to ask.

“Why do you look at me that way?” you whisper to him. 

“What way?” he asks looking slightly confused, but the look is still on his face. 

“That look. I can’t describe it, but it makes me feel warm and makes my heart beat out of my chest every time. I pretty much just melt right into a puddle” you babble, slightly embarrassed that you are explaining this to him. You bow your head to get away from that look. 

“You mean the same look you give me?” he cups your cheek and brings your eyes back to his. “It’s the reason I hate when you look away.” 

You slightly smile and you both continue to look at each other for a few seconds longer. 

“I may or may not have something to say to you right now.” Ryan whispers. You see his ears get slightly pink as they do when he is nervous or embarrassed. 

“And what would that be?” you ask, your eyes searching his. 

“Well, it’s been about a month now. It’s been an incredible one. From you dragging me in the pool, dancing, that night on the chaise… I’ve never really been happier” Ryan says with a large smile. You make a noise in agreement with what his says, not wanting to interrupt. “And just this weekend here, making dinner together, the shower, just simply hanging out together… It’s just proven something that I’ve known for quite some time now.” 

“What’s that?” 

He doesn’t answer you right away, but pulls you into a passionate yet tender kiss for a few moments. When he pulls away, he rests his forehead on yours and looks at you. 

“I love you" Ryan says simply, but his smile is agonizingly sweet and the look is of one of adoration.

“I love you too, Ry” you reply back, your face mirroring his.

Ryan pulls you into his embrace and gives you a kiss that gets deeper and deeper as time went on. It felt like a moment that lasted an eternity, but you weren't complaining. If one moment from your life could simply exist forever, it would be this one. 

After puzzling that look for the whole first month you both were together, you realized that it was a loving look, one that wouldn't fade for a long time.


	9. Let's Play!

You were practically vibrating in Ryan’s truck. 

You felt extremely impatient to get to work today. You weren’t looking forward to the meeting you had in the morning. Since it was getting closer and closer to crunch time for RTX, meetings were more frequent and lasting much longer. Steffie and you were running from one office to another, sometimes with a grumpy Geoff in tow. Even though you were ecstatic to be going to RTX this year, the meetings got tedious. However, today, you were excited for the afternoon. 

It was time for you to play Minecraft. 

Ryan looks over at you bouncing in the truck, and laughs at the impatient look on your face. 

“Someone’s excited for being in a let’s play” he comments, quickly glancing at you with a smirk on his face. 

“You have no idea.” You smile widely. “I mean, it’s the main reason I got into this company. I know you guys don’t always love doing those videos, but they are your most popular and well received in the community, aside from GTA. The community loves them and I do too.” You explain. 

“We do like doing them, most of the times. Just some of the competitions are rather difficult to keep a good attitude through after recording for hours.” 

Ryan pulls into the parking lot, and you almost launch yourself out of the truck. When you go around the back of the truck, Ryan reaches for you and pulls you into a big hug. You can’t resist hugging him back and give him a kiss. 

“I love you, you know” Ryan reminds you as he tucks hair behind your ear, his fingers linger on your cheek.

“And you know I love you” you respond, as you clutch his hand as you both enter the office. 

You see a very grumpy Geoff sipping his coffee on the couch while Michael and Gavin are getting ready to record next week’s Play Pals. 

“Have fun at your meetings, dear” Ryan says before kissing you on the cheek and heading to your desk. 

“Why the fuck doesn’t anyone kiss me on the cheek before heading to meetings?” Geoff grumbles as he leaves and you following, unable to help the giggle that slips out. 

As you both walk over to the other building, Geoff perks up a little and asks “Are you prepared for today’s Minecraft?” 

“Beyond ready!” you reassure. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a while now, ever since you asked me to do the occasional let’s play… I mean, as a fan I’ve always wanted to be in one.” 

“You should have told me sooner, I’d have let you play a long time ago! Everyone in the office has! Well, except for Steffie, but she’s not really into that kind of thing.” 

“I was, and still am, more than happy to be doing what I am as a secretary” you state with a smile. 

“Well, I’m sure as dicks happy to have hired you, y/n. I don’t know how Steffie and I would have handled this RTX without you. I’m getting too old for this shit” and Geoff is back to grumpy as you both enter Gus and Barb’s office. 

The meeting lasted almost three hours. Part of that reason was because Gus, Burnie and Geoff liked to catch up with one another since they so rarely saw each other. The rest of the meeting was dedicated to scheduling the autograph time slots for everyone in Achievement Hunter. It was one hell of a project. You all didn’t want the times to interfere with other employees, but a few had to overlap because there simply wasn’t enough time. You tried to argue with Geoff that you didn’t need to be paired up with anyone, or even have a time slot to begin with, but Geoff reasoned that with you now being a frequent guest on some of the shows, fans were bound to want to talk with you. So, on the first day you were paired with Steffie since you both work together, and on the second day when the big Achievement Hunter panel that was airing the couples photo shoot, you were paired with Ryan to promote it. 

All in all, after the meeting, Geoff, you and Steffie were very pleased. Since it was almost lunch time, Geoff sent a text to everyone that was still in Achievement Hunter to wrap things up and meet you at one of his favorite restaurants, his treat. 

Everyone came to the restaurant to eat. You sat in the middle, with Ryan on your right and Jack on your left. Geoff, in leader fashion, sat on the end. After you all got your drinks, Geoff decided to make a toast. 

“I know I can be a slight asshat of a boss sometimes, but I just want to thank you all for being like my kids. When I started Achievement Hunter, I didn’t think that it’d grow into the great family it is today. So, cheers to all you fuckers.” And Geoff proceeded to down his beer, and everyone followed suit. 

Lunch went by quickly, with so many different conversations going on, featuring quite the bevved up Geoff and Gavin.  
Once you all got back, you took your seat at the desk next to Michael and Jack. Jack gave you a big hug before sitting down and a big wink. Michael lightly punches you in the shoulder. 

And the game begins. 

“Hello, everybody!” Geoff slightly slurs into the microphone. 

A chorus of hellos echo through the room. 

“So today we’re doing something we’ve never done before… are you guys ready for this?” Geoff asks. 

“You bet, bring it on!” Michael says cheerfully. 

“I first off want to say, we have the ever lovely, y/n making her debut in Minecraft today, which is very important because this let’s play, we need to be into pairs!” Geoff says excitedly. 

“I call my boi!” Gaving shouts into his mic, as his creeper character bolts to be next to Michael’s. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Team Nice Dynamite for the win bitches!” Michael cheers. 

“More like team Mavin” you taunt back. 

“Oh boy, here we go already!” Jack sighs, rolling his eyes at your and Michael. 

You all laugh into the microphones. 

“Jack, I’m think we’ll be team OGs in this one, leaving the two lovebirds together” Geoff remarks. 

“I’m not sure if this is a perfect idea or a terrible one” Ryan teases you. 

You give him a joking look as if you’re offended, while Michael laughs. 

“It’s a terrible idea, Geoff!” Gavin exclaims. “They’re both bloody insane! They’ll beat our asses!” 

“Team Insane Couple is a go!” Geoff shouts. 

Even though it’s silly, you’re excited that your first “Team” you’re on is with Ryan. You quickly give him a glance, and you can see him beaming around Jack. 

“Okay, so for today’s let’s play we’ll be in teams” Geoff repeats. “Now, I was only slightly lying when I said we never did anything like this before… if you follow me over to the bulletin board…”

You all gather around the bulletin board in Achievement City by Ryan’s house, and you hear everyone collectively groan and moan while you and Geoff laugh. 

“Geoff, do you hate us or something?” Michael whines. 

“God, I thought we would be done with this” Ryan complains. 

“Guys-and lady- welcome to I Spy X” Geoff says proudly. 

Distant from his mic, Gavin shouts “Noooooo!” 

“The rules are as follows, you and your team member must find use this list of items to try and rack up as many points as you can within the hour time slot. You may not split up; you must stay together at all times. You can kill other teams, because each time you die, you lose a point. You also lose points if the thing, for example a creeper, kills you. So not only do you not get that point, you also lose whatever that point equivalent was. The only thing that doesn’t count if it kills you is the super charged creeper, which will automatically win you the game. Take a few minutes to look at the board, and then we all are going to spread out in different directions of the new area so we all don’t start in the negatives from killing each other.” Geoff explains. 

Looking at the board you read:   
Super Charged Creeper- Win  
Zombie Pigman (outside of the Nether)- 20 pts  
Spider Jockey- 10 pts  
Slime- 5 points  
Jungle Cat- 5 points   
Pink Sheep- 8 points  
Mooshroom- 5 pts   
Wild Donkey/Horse- 8 points   
Baby villager-3 pts (if you see parents fucking add 5 pts)   
Witch- 5 pts  
Enderman-3 pts  
Creeper, Zombie, Skelton, Spider- 1 pt each

You hear Gavin and Michael trying to talk over a strategy to try and hunt you and Ryan down as soon as they possibly can. 

“You both act like putting us in the negative will make you both win. It’s also a game about actually finding things, you know.” You remind them. 

“And who says we won’t have weapons so we can kill you first?” Ryan adds in a pseudo menacing voice. 

“Micoo, I don’t like this” Gavin whines. 

“Shut up, we’ll be fine. They are the ones that won’t be” Michael mutters shooting you both a glare. 

Simultaneously, you and Ryan each do a maniacal laugh, which ends in both of you laughing hysterically at each other. 

Geoff just mumbles “Jesus fucking Christ what have I done?” while Jack just states “ooookay then I think Team Insane Couple is going to stick pretty well for their name” 

You all start wandering off separate from each other. You and Ryan end up in a field type biome, far away from everyone else. 

“Are you ready, Mad King?” you coyly ask into the mic. 

“Let's rule, my dear” Ryan murmurs back giving you a sly look.

Geoff sets the timer, and the game begins. 

 

It’s about 15 minutes before the hour ends, and everyone’s taking the competition very seriously. Much to your annoyance, Gavin and Michael are in the lead, but you and Ryan are right on their tails, only behind by a couple points. 

“See any rare occurrences?” Geoff drawls for the 4th time in the past 12 or so minutes. 

“Shut up, Geoff!” you all chorus back to him. 

All of a sudden, it starts to downpour in the game where Ryan and you are. 

“Finally, something good!” you exclaim and Ryan agrees. 

“Fucking hell, where are you two?!” Michael growls in frustration. You can tell it’s bugging him how close the match is and how Team Nice Dynamite hasen’t hunted you two down yet. 

“No way in hell we’re saying!” Ryan says, and you can hear the excitement in his voice, because you both see the same thing- lightning. 

“Micoo, look behind you- a spider jockey!” Gavin yelps nervously. 

“Don’t worry, Mogar’s on the way!” Michael successfully kills it, and they are now 7 points ahead of you. You know that it’s now or never for you and Ryan to win the game. 

Ryan’s and your character start sprinting around as fast as you can as Geoff announces there are only 5 more minutes left in the hour. You throw Ryan a quick panicked look, but he doesn’t see. He’s biting his lip out of concentration. In some part of your head, you realize how incredibly attractive he looks when he does that. But you snap your head back into the game and catch up to him. 

That’s when you both see it on your screen, in the middle of the plains. 

“Super charged creeper” Ryan whispers, completely stunned. 

“Wot? Come off it, you’re lying!” Gavin says, clearly not believing it. 

“SUPER. CHARGED. CREEPER!” You yell excitedly. You cannot believe it. 

“Are you serious?!” Jack asks, turning to look at Ryan’s screen. 

“FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?” Michael screams out of frustration as he looks at your screen. And there goes his controller flying out his hand towards Gavin’s direction causing Gavin to quickly bat it away from his face. 

Geoff is bellowing his loud laugh, doubled over in his chair; you and Ryan join in with your own laughs. 

“Holy shit. After how many episodes of this stupid game?” Jack mutters into the mic, slightly shaking his head with a grin on his face. 

Once everyone slightly settles down, Geoff teleports you all back to Achievement City. 

“Since y/n has never had the Tower of Pimps before, we’re going to put it in front of the house we rebuilt for special guest players.” Geoff explains, handing you the golden blocks. 

“One, two, three, four!” you exclaim excitedly. 

Jack, Ryan and Geoff all cheer, Gavin claps lightly into his mic, while Michael grumbles about how he has to replace his controller… again. 

“Okay everyone, leeeet’s stop!” Geoff says, ending the game. 

When he stands up, he gives you the little golden tower and Gavin takes his phone out of his pocket. 

“Come on we got to record you placing the tower on your desk!” Geoff explains. 

Gavin begins to record and you all walk single file to your office. 

“Fucking first time she plays Minecraft with us and she brings her and Ryan to victory!” Jack announces. “Way to go, y/n!” 

You turn back to smile at both Jack and the camera. 

When you open the door to your office, you see Steffie typing away at work. She looks up and sees everyone enter, and Gavin points the camera at her “ ‘Ello, Steffie! You office mate just won the Tower of Pimps!” 

Steffie smiles and simply replies “I’m not surprised at all” 

They all manage to crowd around your desk, and you place the tower onto your pad of sticky notes. It will have to do for the moment. 

Again, everyone cheers, even Michael does a half heart “whoop”. You look at Ryan next to you and he leans over giving you a big kiss. 

You hear Geoff mutter “Team Crazy Couple, more like Team Insanely in Love Couple”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about the shorter chapter this week! Life has been pretty darn crazy for me but I hope that the next chapter's length will make up for it! :)   
> As always, thank you everyone for reading! Enjoy.


	10. RTX

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for being late on the update! Please forgive me! 
> 
> Note: I've never been to an event/RTX so I understand a lot of this stuff probably doesn't make much sense so please just bear with it!

You felt like you were going to throw up. 

Ryan and you both enter the hotel late Thursday afternoon, suit cases in tow. The hotel was pretty nice. Looking at the long check in line, you realize that all of the guests waiting were all members of the company. As you look at the end of the line, you see Caiti and Jack waving both you and Ryan down. As you both approach them, you see that they look pretty excited, but you remember that aside from you and a couple of other new hires, everyone else were used to RTX and events in general. 

“Hi guys!” Caiti greets you cheerfully with a hug. Ryan and Jack nod at each other. 

“Hi, Caiti.” You respond back a little nervously. “How was the drive for you guys?”

“Fine, nothing bad at all. Y/N, what’s wrong?” Caiti looks at you with concern in her voice. 

“She’s a little nervous about the event, since it’s her first as an employee” Ryan explains as he wraps an arm around your shoulder. 

“A little? I was freaking out in the car” You admit as you shake your head. “I kept thinking I was forgetting everything, making him drive back to the apartment as soon as we left the parking lot.”

“Oh honey, everyone is jittery at their first event, its okay! Plus, the four of us are sharing a room!” Caiti says kindly. “We’ll all make sure you’re okay.”

“Absolutely” Jack reassures. “I know we all won’t see much of each other during the actual event, but you will be with Steffie, and Caiti will be around when she can be, and the guardians are really awesome people.”

You sigh, and try not to focus on your nerves. You focus down the line a bit and you see Meg, Gavin, Michael and Lindsay grouped together; you then remember that they all are sharing a room together as well. 

The four in your group spend the next few minutes talking about plans for the night, and you all decide on room servicing some pizza and just watching movies to relax since you all won’t be relaxing very much during the event or even at night because of parties and what not. While you all talk, Ryan absent mindedly rubs your back and arms, subconsciously trying to comfort you. You gratefully lean into him and rest your head against his chest. 

You all receive room keys and head up to the 3rd floor. When you enter the hall, you don’t see any other employees, but you can barely make out some voices as you walk down.  
As you get farther down the hall, Geoff exit his room, just few doors down and across the hall from yours. 

“Hey, guys!” Geoff greets. “Just getting to your room now? I checked in early to avoid that crowd. I'm about to head out and grab dinner. Do you guys have plans?”

“Yeah, we’re just going to get pizza and have a movie night” Jack responds. 

“Okay, sounds good. I may drop in after dinner just to check in before bed. See you guys later” Geoff and his family walk a little more down the hall until Geoff spins around. “I almost forgot- enjoy your neighbors” He says with a giant grin before entering the elevator. 

You all exchange a questioning look since none of you know who your neighbors are. As you enter the room, the first thing you notice on the right is a door, indicating that this room is jointed with the room next door. For the time being, you disregard the door, and go to the windows and open the curtain. You slightly wish there was a balcony at this hotel, but the view was nice either way. 

Ryan puts your suitcase on the stand and puts his next to it, then joins you at the window. 

“Nice view” he comments, but out of the corner of your eye, you see him slightly smirking and you know he’s not just talking about the scenery. You crack a smile and lightly elbow his side. 

“Finally, I got a smirk out of you. First one all day” Ryan says and sighs with relief. “I was slightly worried I was going to have to go the whole weekend without you laughing or anything. I was almost getting worried that I wasn’t funny anymore” he teases lightly. 

Again, you smack him lightly, and your smile gets bigger. “Asshole” you say as you make your way to flop on the bed. 

Caiti flops on her bed with a giggle while Jack is organizing their suitcases and unpacks with a smile. 

“So I wonder who is on the other side of that door.” Ryan ponders, making his way over. “Should I knock and find out?” 

Before any of you can respond, you hear knocking from the other side. Ryan slightly raises his eyebrows and ask “Uh, who is it?” 

The only response was more knocking, but it sounded more forceful. As Ryan opens the door, Michael nearly topples into him. 

“What’s up, neighbors?!” Michael shouts to all of you, with a bottle of Jack in one hand and a large Coca Cola in the other. “Who wants some bevs?” 

You start laughing hysterically. Of course your neighbors would be those guys. Following Michael into your room, Lindsay, Meg, and Gavin all follow in, but not as intruding as Michael. 

“Of all people we’re rooming next to, it had to be you crazy fucks” Jack says shaking his head. “So much for good sleep” 

“C’mon, Jack its RTX, no one sleeps anyways” Gavin replies gleefully. “We heard Rye-bread through the wall so we thought we’d make a little party out of it!” 

“Well, we didn’t want to intrude on you guys, but these two jerks insisted” Meg said rolling her eyes at both Gavin and Michael who jumped onto the bed you were on. Lindsay nods in agreement at what Meg said, but she was slightly smirking at her husband as he started getting drinks ready. 

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from these two” you say. You’re glad that they are all there. Instead of worrying about how the weekend was going to be, these guys would entertain you from the stress. 

“Where the hell am I supposed to sit?” Ryan asks as he approaches your bed, but Michael and Gavin had completely sprawled out, practically shoving you off as well, but you punched Michael in the back. 

“You should be accommodating to your guest, Mr. Haywood. Jeez, y/n, haven’t you taught your boyfriend some manners?” Michael mockingly chastises you as he hands you a drink. 

You laugh and scoot over so that Ryan has enough room to sit behind you. Lindsay sits in the chair by the window while Meg sits on the end of Jack and Caiti’s bed, catching up with Caiti since they don’t see each other often. 

After everyone got comfortable, Caiti ordered pizza and for everyone, and you picked out a movie for all of you to watch. No one was really paying attention to it, but it was nice to have as back ground music. 

After the movie was over, all of you were lazing around, completely stuffed from the delicious pizza. You were completely leaning against Ryan who was straddled around you leaning against the pillows while your feet were on Michael’s back. 

“So is everyone ready for tomorrow?” Lindsay asked excitedly. “What are all of your schedules? Tomorrow is RWBY, X-Ray and Vav panels for me! And I think I’m doing signing with  
Kara tomorrow, and then signing Saturday withMichael.” 

Michael nods in agreement “Tomorrow I sign with Gav and then we both have Lazer Team panel, so that’s going to be huge. I’m also in the X-Ray and Vav panel.” 

Gavin simply sighs “I don’t even want to talk about tomorrow. It’s my busy day. I have signing with Micoo, signing with Dan both days, live podcast, X-Ray and Vav, Lazer Team, and then a mini panel with Griffon and Geoff for Happy Hour, but that’s only a half hour or so. I’m screwed” 

“Jesus, I don’t envy you” Jack states, and you agree. Out of everyone for Achievement Hunter, Gavin involves himself with the most outside projects. You feel a little bit of sympathy for the Brit. As much as you guys give him a hard time, he does a ton for this company. “I just have signing with Ry and doing some odd and end stuff as well.” 

“Ryan and I have the Patch panel with Gus and Ashley tomorrow!” Meg sings cheerfully, and Ryan laughs. “I’m so excited for it! It should get a good turnout!” she continues, looking “Y/N, will you be there?” 

“As an audience member, yes” you say with a small smile. “It’s one of the only free times I have tomorrow, aside from doing signing with Steffie. I have to keep track of schedules and making sure you guys are ready for your panels. I also have to help out with Matt, Jeremy, Kdin, and Caleb with all of the community events we have going on in the morning.” The nerves from earlier start seeping into the more you think about tomorrow.

“Are you nervous for your first RTX as an employee?” Lindsay asks, catching your tone and the slight look of panic on your face. 

You shrug your shoulders, trying to keep calmer than you actually felt. “I mean, the excitement of being around all of you guys and seeing people who really care for this company outweighs the nerves, but I’m the most nervous for Saturday and seeing how that goes. I don’t know how people are really going to respond to me being in Let’s Plays and that promo shoot that Jon did. I haven’t seen any of the photos, have you guys?” you ask. 

“I have!” Meg said with a big smile. “We all look incredible; Jon did an amazing job putting everything together. We all look like badasses!” 

Gavin smiles at his girlfriend over on the opposite bed, but then the clock catches his eyes, and he begins to frown. “Bugger, I wanted to be in bed at least a half hour ago” he springs up from your bed, and takes Meg’s hand and pulls her off Jack and Caiti’s bed. “See you all tomorrow, good luck with everything!” they proceed to go into the other room; Michael and Lindsay follow shortly after. 

Once the door closes, the four of you remaining get ready for bed. Caiti falls asleep almost instantly, and Jack soon follows, snoring loudly. Ryan throws the sleeping Jack a slightly irritated look, and you just smile. You’re so used to Jack’s snoring; it won’t phase your sleep. 

As you both get under the covers, Ryan pulls you close and gives you a passionate kiss, arousing you, but knowing that there are two others in the room, you don’t act upon that feeling. When he pulls away, Ryan quietly sighs, and you can hear the slight frustration in it. 

You look up at him quizzically “What’s wrong?”

He quietly laughs “Just thinking about how I should have gotten us our own room instead of taking advantage of this free one through the company.” He doesn’t say anything else, but you know what he means; he wants you as badly as you want him. 

You devilishly grin and you intentionally kiss his neck and let your hand lightly touch him under the covers. You hear his sharp intake of air followed by a hiss. 

“You. Aren’t. Helping.” He growls. You stop and kiss him innocently on the cheek while shaking with laughter. 

“I’m so sorry, honey” you whisper sarcastically. You hug him tight, and immediately his arms are wrapped tight around you and he buries his face into your hair. 

“You’re lucky I love you” he teases, kissing your shoulder. 

“I love you too. And we definitely need to remember about the room next year” you smile into his chest. 

Ryan pulls back slightly and tilts your chin up so he can see your face and rests his hand against your cheek. “Seriously, sweetheart, are you going to be okay tomorrow? I know  
I’m not going to be around you much at all tomorrow, and I’m sorry about that, but you’ll have Steffie and all the other guys. They all adore you and will help you with anything  
and everything. Plus, the fans already love you. Ever since your versus with Michael, they all like you. The fans that come to RTX tend to be the people who actually care about us, not the random haters on the channel.” His eyes search yours to make sure you’re okay. 

“Ryan, I’ll be okay.” You reassure not only him but yourself as well. “It’s just new and a bit scary. I’m sure I’ll love it by the first hour.” 

“Well, if something happens, just let Steffie and a guardian know, and come find me. If I’m on stage, just go behind and wait for me there.” He says after kissing your forehead. 

“I’ll be fine!” you huff as you settle and get comfortable for sleep. “I’m the one who is supposed to be rounding all of you guys up. That’s my job, remember?” 

“Yes, dear” Ryan laughs. “Night, y/n. Love you” 

“Love you too” and you both fell asleep. 

 

The next day went a lot better and faster than you expected. 

You and Steffie were running around like chicken with their heads cut off. You assist Caleb with running the community member events. The community members are awesome  
people, and you really enjoyed spending your time with them. Matt and Jeremy were having the time of their lives hosting the event, and everyone found them to be hysterical.  
Even though you heard them practicing their jokes, you couldn’t help but to laugh just as hard as everyone else who was there. 

Once you girls were done helping with that, it was time for your signings to begin. You both were going to be signing at the “other AH” booth. It was the secondary booth for Achievement Hunters such as your group and a secondary signing spot when the other one was being used. 

As you were approaching the booth with Steffie and the guardians, you looked around nervously. You quickly saw Miles and Kerry doing their signing at the RVB booth. You threw them a small wave, but they were too busy talking animatedly with a fan that was in awesome Ruby cosplay. You looked back over at Steffie who was completely calm, also taking in the sites of the event. 

Steffie notices you looking at her and smiles at you. “Exicted?” she asks. “Or overwhelmed?” 

“A little bit of both, plus nervous” you admit. “It’s just crazy to see all of that planning we’ve done in the past month to finally be falling into place. It’s a bit surreal to me.” 

“It is” she agrees, looking around the area again. “But look how well we did. It’s been such a smooth RTX, at least Achievement Hunter wise. We planned everything really well!” 

Steffie smiles and is waving, and when you look to see who it is, it’s Barb and Gus, who are getting ready for their signing at their section. 

“Having fun yet guys?!” Barb says energetically. It was the most awake you’ve heard her sound in weeks, but you assume her adrenaline must be through the roof. Gus next to her doesn’t look as enthusiastic, but even he seems to be in a good enough mood. 

“You guys did a good job with the Achievement Hunter schedule” Guy states. “Usually we have to page the guys to their events, but they’ve all been keeping right on track. I’m impressed.”

You felt extremely grateful, and genuinely smile at Gus. You and Gus get along perfectly fine, but you knew that this compliment was a huge thing. He wasn’t big on dishing them out unless he felt like it was something important. You and Steffie sincerely thank him, and both Barb and him continue onto their booth. 

When you arrive to yours, you’re surprised to see how many people are there waiting in line for the two of you. Once the fans see you guys arrive, they are clapping and cheering. You flash them all a smile, and the signing begins. 

It was incredible to hear the kind words from all of the fans. Everyone complimented you on your victory against Michael and said they genuinely enjoyed seeing you in the videos. A few fans tried to ask you a lot of questions about your personal life, especially with Ryan, but you simply laughed and shrugged those questions off. 

After an hour or so of countless selfies and autographs, the line finally dwindled and it was about time for you and Steffie to grab Ryan to go to the Patch panel. You were starting to feel the adrenaline that Barb was feeling earlier and you had to admit, you were having so much more fun that you could ever have imagine. You were also beyond excited to see Ryan and Jack quickly. 

When you got to the official AH booth, you were stunned to see how long the line still was for Ryan and Jack. You felt really bad for the fans that weren’t going to make it to them, but there was a schedule you guys had to stick to. After announcing the cut off, you and Steffie waited for about 10 minutes until the last fan got their autograph with the two men. 

As soon as they were done, Ryan leaned over and gave you a quick peck on the cheek, causing a couple of giggles and cheers from a group of fan girls who saw. You blush tomato red, but you appreciated the kiss anyways. 

“How have you guys been holding up?” you ask the two men. 

“Really well!” Jack says enthusiastically. “Fans have been completely amazing so far! Caiti was around here somewhere, but I think she went to look at Griffon doing her RTX wood carving.” 

“I’ll catch up with her after the Patch panel” you respond. You also wanted to check out Griffon’s station today since tomorrow you probably wouldn’t have enough time with all of the Achievement Hunter based events going on. 

You give Jack and Steffie each a hug and Steffie goes with Jack to either search for Caiti or perhaps to another panel. 

“How’ve you been doing today, love?” Ryan asks as he takes your hand. 

“Really, really well” you beam up at him. You can see relief spreading through his face, and you feel warm. He must have been slightly worrying about you since you both quickly said goodbye this morning. 

“I’m glad to hear that. How did signing for you?” he smiles. 

You both quickly babble stories before getting to the large stage room. You both enter from the side, away from where all the fans were entering the building. You see Meg and Ashley both waiting, since their signing was taking place outside this room. 

“Hi guys!” Ashley responds with big hug to you and a smile for Ryan. “Are you going to be able to watch the panel?” she asks you. 

“I made it so this the only panel I watch as an audience member.” You say with a smile. 

“I’m sure she’s not watching for you girls” Gus jokes from behind you and Ryan. “Pretty sure she’s here for us attractive manly men” he says with a slight smirk and flexes his “muscles”.

Ryan bellows a laugh. “Gus, if I we weren’t taken, I’d be in the audience oogling over you too” he jokes back. 

You all laugh and it was about time for the panel to begin. You and Ryan kiss, while Gus pretends to gag as both Meg and Ashley simultaneously “awwww”-ed.

The Patch panel and the rest of the day was completely incredible. The Patch panel was hilarious, while informational about all the gaming companies that were at RTX and what times the audiences should check them out. Griffon’s carving was beyond amazing, as she was carving a Chinese dragon that would be finished at the end of RTX. She had a basic start on the body and was working from the tail up, saving the face for the last day. You managed to get into the tail end of the X-Ray and Vav panel, smiling at the sight of Ray up at the panel. Once it was over, you managed to talk to him for a few minutes catching up while waiting to take Gavin over to his Slow Mo panel with Dan. 

Before you knew it, it was about to be closing time. You scurried over to the other AH booth to help Steffie and the boys reset the booth for tomorrow. Once you were all finished, you went back to your hotel to get ready for the big company party that would include a lot of special guests. 

When you got to the room, you saw that Caiti was already there and ready. You changed into a more formal outfit, and by the time you were done, both Jack and Ryan entered the room. As soon as they both entered, they both gave you and Caiti big hugs, to which you and Caiti just smirked over your lovers’ shoulders. You both were lucky girls. 

 

You and Ryan didn’t stay at the party for long, danced a little, but mainly just mingled and were introduced to people a part of these parties. After a couple hours, the adrenaline from the day came to a complete halt. When Ryan left you at the bar to use the restroom, you felt like you were about to pass out and sleep there for the night. 

“Is is past your bedtime, young lady?” You hear him tease. 

“Mhmm.” Is all you mumble back as you keep resting your head against your hand. 

You feel him pull you gently from the stool. “I think we can leave now, no one will really mind.” 

You wake yourself up enough to say goodbye to some people and to let Caiti know that you both will probably be asleep by the time they leave the party. 

When you both are waiting for the elevator, Ryan looks at you in your dress, and you notice he’s giving you an odd look. 

“What?” you as suspiciously. 

“That’s the same dress you wore on the night of your going away party” Ryan murmurs as his eyes trace your every curve. “I haven’t seen it on you since then.”

You perk up at the tone of his voice, and you decide to go with it. “I know, I save it for special occasions” you say in a low voice, slightly straightening out your back causing your breasts and ass to be more accentuated; Ryan’s eyes follow every movement of your body. “Tell me, what do you think of it? Does it look okay?” you ask coyly. 

Ryan’s eyes snap up to meet yours, and you can tell he’s all business. The elevator door opens, and no one is inside. He pulls you into his arms and you weave your arms around his neck and his fingers into his hair. He immediately responds by firmly grabbing your ass underneath the dress, kissing you deeply. 

You both continue this until the elevator dings and the door open up. You both start sprinting down the hallway, both laughing madly at each other’s excitement. As soon as the door is open to your room, Ryan picks you up and tosses you on the bed, while he takes his pants off. You start attempting to take off the dress but Ryan stops you. 

“I want to appreciate how good that looks on you” he explains with a lustful glint in his eyes. 

You laugh as you lean against the plumped up pillows and you wiggle a finger at him to come to you. He launches himself on you and his lips crash onto yours as his hand makes his way down. You moan eagerly at the sensation, encouraging him to continue. He does for a couple of minutes, but just as you get close, he pulls his hands away and inserts himself into you. You both can’t help the loud noises that come out of you. 

While he’s in control, he’s kissing every part of your body that isn’t covered by clothing. He pauses for a moment from kissing you, to quickly take off his shirt, and you eye him appreciatively. You’ve come to terms that you will never get over how incredible he looks without his shirt off. 

Ryan then begins to grab your breasts on top the fabric of the dress and whispers in your ear “I can’t even describe how incredible you look in this dress” all you can utter in response is a moan, and he proceeds to start biting at your neck and bare shoulder, and the moans turn into screams of delight. 

“oh, fuck, Ry-“ you start before his mouth is on yours again. You can feel that he’s about to finish. As he does, a contented moan escapes him. 

He collapses onto the bed next to you, both of you breathing a little heavy. You both turn to look at each other, and you both laugh at each other’s stupid grin on your faces. 

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen for a few days” you smirk at him. 

“Me either” Ryan shrugs “But that dress has driven me crazy on you since that first party, and after seeing it on you all night, I couldn’t resist temptation.” He says with a wink.  
You laugh, but the tiredness from earlier is settling back into your bones. 

You both get changed, and get into bed. Your last thought before you drift off is that you hope that nobody heard the noises that you both were making. 

 

“I’m going to kill him” you think as you stare at yourself in the mirror. There were light bruises on your neck and your shoulders. 

Fucking Ryan left you two hickeys form the night before. 

You put on your shirt that you were to wear for the day, which covers up the ones on your shoulder but there is no hope for the ones on your neck. Makeup doesn’t help very much, so you just leave your hair down, hoping it’ll cover it up for the most part. 

You storm out of the bathroom with a grumpy look on your face. Caiti and Jack are too busy getting ready, they don’t notice, but Ryan sees your face and is immediately concerned. 

“y/n, what’s wrong?” he asks with a worried look. 

“Oh, nothing just tired” you say, which convinces Caiti who paused to look at you to just continue getting ready. When look at Ryan you shoot him an accusing glare and pretend to stretch, but you allow your hair to fall away from your neck and use your hand to nonchalantly point to your neck. Ryan’s eyes follow your hand and then 

“Oh my God” he mouths, with slight horror in his expression. “I’m so sorry-“ he seems at a loss for words as you cover the hickey up with your hair again. 

You roll your eyes at him and proceed to hug him, but you whisper in his ear “If Michael or Gavin see this, you aren’t getting sex for a week” you hiss menacingly to him. 

When you pull away, Ryan just looks slightly amused. “Babe, it’s not bad, don’t worry about it” He stands, kisses you on the forehead and takes your hand, and you both leave for the convention center. 

 

You start off today running errands for the booths, making sure that all the employees were okay, drinking enough water and whatnot. Even though you had a map around the area, you got lost a couple of times. 

Once it became early afternoon, you realized it was time to meet up with Ryan at the AH booth to do signing. Even though you left him in a huff this morning, you were excited that you were going to be spending the next hour or so by his side. 

When you get to the booth, he’s already there. You give him a small smile, but he’s focusing on your neck. You forgot all about the mark he left from the night before, and you slightly narrow your eyes at him, which he sees. 

As you approach his side, he gives you a quick hug, and he murmurs in your ear “It’s a lot better than this morning, relax” 

You elbow him slightly and smile and the first approaching fan. 

The fans today get slightly more on your nerves than they did yesterday because they mainly just asked questions about your personal lives together. However, you and Ryan handled the questions with tact and shrugged them off easily. A lot of fans also asked you both about the special thing that was going to happen at the Achievement Hunter panel, but you both just laugh and exchange knowing looks, causing the fans to go crazy with excitement. Some fans also asked to just take photos with Ryan, which you didn’t mind, except for how touchy and boundary pushing some could be. A part of you twinged with jealousy, but you can hardly blame them; they wanted to take advantage of their time with him.

Finally, it was time for the main event. Steffie comes over to where you and Ryan just wrapped up signing, and escorted you both to the main stage for the event. 

When you three arrive, you see the other guys already standing there getting ready. Matt and Jeremy looked incredibly excited and gave you a big smile as you approached. You gave them a small wave then nonchalantly fixed your hair to make sure the remains of the mark was covered up. Meg and Caiti were also there. You didn’t see any signs of Griffon though. 

“Where’s Griffon?” you ask Geoff when you get close to the group. 

“She can’t make it because she’s doing some stuff at her booth” Geoff explains. “Jon’s going to show her the beginning of it at some point so she can see it.”

“Well that’s good” you smile. Your heart begins to pound hard in your chest. You’re beyond excited to see what Jon put together, but you still are nervous to how the audience will react. 

You all talk for a few minutes, but you look to Michael who has been oddly quiet. When you look at his face, there is an extremely smug smirk there. His eyes flick between your neck and then back to your eyes where the smirk gets larger. 

You stare at him, preparing for the dreaded comment to come. Instead, he shakes his head at you and his eyes glint with mischief. 

When you look away nervously, you see the clock on the wall. It’s about time to get started. 

As you think that, Jon shows up where you all are. 

“Hey guys, we’re about ready, there’s a full house out there. All set back here?” Jon asks. 

“Alright, guys let’s give the fans what they want!” Geoff says. “Let’s huddle up!” 

You all huddle together and Michael squeezes between you and Geoff. 

You throw him a quizzical look as Michael flops his arm around your shoulder, but he leans into your ear and whispers “By the looks of your neck and how much of a ruckus you two caused last night, I’d say Haywood gave you exactly what you wanted last night” 

You snap your head away from his mouth and hiss “You didn’t…” 

“Oh. I did” He grins wickedly. “I left the party early because I had a headache. After lying down for about 15 minutes what do I hear from the other room?” He chuckled softly. “But don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone… yet.” 

When you were just about to retort something back, Geoff speaks. “Okay, guys, this is going to be a great panel, let’s just hope we don’t get a lot of stupid questions and have some fun!” 

You all cheer, which all the audience hears and they begin to go wild. 

Since you girls aren’t actually on the panel, you, Caiti and Meg all give your boyfriends big hugs and whispers of luck, and take our seats in the front row. Caiti sits on your left, and Ray, who managed to save the seats for you girls, was on your right. 

You smile at him in thanks as your take your seat and then you hear Jon’s voice over the mic. 

“Hello, Achievement Hunter fans! We have a special treat for you to start off the panel! It’s a little something I came up with with Geoff and the other Achievement Hunters, so please, enjoy!” he announces, then the room goes dark as the screen lights up, and the video begins. Caiti grabs your hand excitedly, and you give your best friend a smile. 

“There are people who have severely helped us out in this business.” Geoff voice comes out of the speaker, when a flash of Master Chief’s armor that Geoff wore appears on screen to fade away. “Other companies, other co workers, friends…” a flash to Master Chief’s armor again, but this time, but you and the audience notice it’s different. You hear the clamor of slight confusion from the fans. Then, the screen goes to Jack’s Minecraft character’s outfit, then to Caiti’s version, then so on with Michael and Gavin’s, alternating between them with Lindsay and Meg. The audience is starting to gasp as they understand. Then, you see Ryan’s legs in the kilt, followed by yours in a much shorter kilt; the audience loses their minds. “But there is no one out there who can take the place of the Achievement ladies.” The screen goes back to Griffon’s costume, pans up to her face, and there she is, smirking wickedly into the camera, and she seductively says “Let’s Play”. The audience is screaming and cheering as the guys each come on stage and take their seats, smiling as they do so. 

The video continues to show each part of the Minecraft shoot, doing side by sides of each of the couples while the guys talk over about each of the girls.  
“Griffon has been around for such a long time it seems” Geoff says, in an interview with Jon. “I can’t remember what my life was without her. Every day I’m astounded at how fearless she is… and how much she kicks my ass. From carving with a chainsaw hours at end, then to raising a family, I don’t know how she does it. She’s a force to be reckoned with.” 

When it was Jack’s turn to speak about Caiti, Caiti started crying with happiness and Jack smiled at both of you where you were sitting. He was incredibly sweet when talking about his wife, almost bringing you to tears at the end of it. 

Gavin and Michael did there interview together about Lindsay and Meg. “I mean, come on, who wouldn’t want to date studs like us?” Michael questioned. “I’d totally date you, Micoo” Gavin replied cheerfully. “Shut the fuck up, idiot, I already knew that” Michael rolled his eyes and punched Gavin. Everyone in the audience, including you and Ray start cracking up. “Team Mavin!” Ray shouts up to the stage, to which Michael and Gavin give him thumbs up. “But seriously though,” on Michael continues in the video. “The fact that the two of us found girls who can not only deal with our crap but also dish it back is pretty damn incredible. We’re beyond lucky to find the love of our lives, thanks to this great company.” Everyone in the audience awed at the statement Michael made and as he gave Lindsay a big hug and kiss on the cheek on stage while Gavin winked at Meg. 

Then, it was Ryan’s turn. The music changed for each of the couples, and you recognized the song that was playing as the first photo of you showed up. You do a sharp intake of heart as your heart slightly skips a few beats. It was the same one that you and Ryan first danced to. You glance at Ryan who is sitting directly in front of you, who was staring intently back at you, with a small sweet smile on his face. 

“Y/n is like no one I’ve ever met before” Ryan states in his interview. “Even after a year of working for Achievement Hunter, she still walks in with the same amount of passion and will to work as she did on her very first day. The amount of dedication she puts into everything she does is remarkable. Every day she amazes me; and surprises me.” He smiles. “I'm lucky to be a part of her life.”

The audience awws and you feel a couple tears slide down your cheek. You promptly wipe them away, as you hear Jon ask “So does this change mean no more Mad King? Are you officially on that murder break?!” To which Ryan responds with an evil laugh and grin “Oh no. We’re called Team Insane Couple for a reason” And you audibly gasp as you witness the little scene between you and Ryan that occurred during shooting. Someone (by where the person is standing, you assume Meg) recorded it without either of you knowing. You look over at Ryan who glances your way and you see him slightly shrug, but with a smile on his face. He didn’t know this was in the video either, but he apparently was enjoying it, as well as the audience. 

As soon as the scene was over, it immediately switched into the GTA photoshoot, where you can tell that Jon went all out with the effects, with a bit of Gavin’s help. It looks incredible. You can’t believe that they were able to create so much from that space the photo shoot was in. When it was yours and Ryan’s slow motion walk, you feel your cheeks get pink and you whole body tingle. You had to admit, you both looked incredible. The sexual tension was definitely showing which enhanced everything even more so.  
The final screen was each of your final poses as couples from the GTA shoot and you heard Jon announce “I now present Achievement Hunter for RTX 2015!” 

The audience was deafeningly loud with their claps and cheers. Even Ray next to you gave you a nudge and clapped for you all. Everyone on the panel stood and waved around at the audience. During the applause, Geoff held a hand out to where you, Meg and Caiti were sitting and Caiti grabbed your hand as you both stood out to the audience and all smiled at the cheers and shouts. Michael on stage lovingly showed off Lindsay who giggled and slightly hid behind her hands. 

After the audience settled, the panel began. 

“What a way to start off the panel right guys?” Geoff asks, causing the audience to clap while everyone onstage nodded. 

“Yeah, I had no idea that was going to be a thing! That was incredible!” Jeremy exclaimed as Matt nodded. 

“We really wanted to keep it as a surprise for the audience.” Jack explained. “I mean, we always did something about ourselves before most panels, so we wanted to show off the ladies that are always supporting us. Plus the photo shoot just looks completely badass!" the audience shouts in agreement. "And with that, I think it’s time we begin with questions. Remember please, do not come up here asking for photos or to give us things, or to ask for jobs. If you want to ask for jobs, go bug Burnie because I’m sure he’ll love it” 

As soon as questions began, Ray ran out of his seat and went to the mic that was at the end of your row. Michael and Gavin noticed on stage and began shouting “Hi Ray! You’re alive!” 

“Shut up you fuckers you know I’m not dead” Ray replied in the microphone causing all of you to laugh. “I just have a something to say for Geoff and Risemonger” 

“Sure what’s up, buddy?” Geoff tilts his head out of amusement. 

“I just want to call dibs on being the model for Jeremy and Matt when it’s their turn for that shoot. I can rock a mean bikini. And I’ll steal y/n’s kilt” Ray jokes into the microphone. 

Everyone in the room erupts with laughter, including everyone on stage. When Ray sits back down next to you, you tease “Dude, you could’ve rocked my kilt better than me. You have the ass for it”

“I will consider it if you come back and film something with us sometime soon” Geoff promises to which Ray gives a thumbs up and the audience screams with excitement at potentially seeing Ray back in a Let’s Play. 

After an hour and a half of questions, it was time for the panel to draw to a close. 

“I just want to say before we go, that we could never have been up here if it wasn’t for you fans” Jack says. “You guys are incredible, and really keep us going, not only as a  
company, but as people so thank you very much” The audience claps in appreciation at what he says. “I would also like to thank the gorgeous ladies who did that photo shoot with us! They all are amazing women and we all love them very much! Enjoy the rest of RTX folks!” 

Before the fans could try and run up to you girls, you three quickly run to back to the side area of the stage and wait for the crew to walk off. 

As soon as they are off, Caiti rushes into Jack and starts crying all over again, to which Jack giggles and rubs his wife’s back. Meg gives Gavin a fist bump and a quick peck on the lips. Ryan comes over to where you’re standing, which is a little farther away from everyone else. 

“Did you like the panel?” he asks with a smile. 

“I loved it” you respond warmly. “I also loved what you said about me.” 

“Well, I love you, and I appreciate everything you do for not only me, but Achievement Hunter. As I said. You amaze me every day, love” Ryan puts both hands on the side of your face and pulls you in for a kiss. 

For that short moment, it feels like time has slowed down. But as soon as that moment is over, you all launch back into the high speed chaos that you all know and love as RTX.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I just have a couple of things to say in conclusion to this chapter.  
> 1\. I know a few chapters ago I said I'd start updating this fix once a week, but unfortunately I'm unable to meet that time frame. So, my updating is going to be a tad more sporadic, which is good and bad. I will say that I will never go more than 2 weeks without updating! Just sometimes life gets in the way of things that I really want to do (like write this fic) so I apologize to all of you.  
> 2\. I just want to say thank you SO much for everyone who has read this story. When I started writing this, I never expected anyone to really read it. I started this because of just some thoughts I had a long while ago, and I decided not to keep them stuck in my brain. Writing these chapters have been a complete and utter joy, and I'm beyond thankful for each person who takes the time to read them. A big jumbo thank you to madqueencaroline and Ms_Moonshoes_Potter for always being active on here! <3


	11. Fight Fight Fight (Kiss Kiss)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The wait is over! I will explain more in the end chapter notes! Enjoy! :)

It was a couple weeks after RTX, and you thought that all the stress and chaos that occurred from the event would disappear and there would be nothing to worry about for a while. 

You thought wrong. 

Ryan wanted you to move in as soon as possible. 

While you agree that going between the two places was a little tedious, you still had a few months left at your apartment. You weren’t willing to paying the ridiculous price for ending the contract early. Ryan tried to convince you to allow him to pay for it, but you adamantly refused. 

If you were being completely honest, it wasn’t just about the apartment. You knew that deep down you just weren’t ready to jump back into living with someone. After a long time at Jack and Caiti’s, you were happy to have your own place. True, Ryan was there at least 2 nights a week with you, but you enjoyed the freedom you had on nights that he wasn’t around. Of course you missed him, but the independent living suited you really well. You were also nervous to bring your relationship to that level of commitment. You loved the man to death, but everything was great the way it was. 

The tension between you and Ryan highly escalated this week, so much so that he didn’t spend the night last night. 

When you woke up that morning and padded your way to the bathroom, you could tell by your reflection that you didn’t sleep very well. You had dark circles under your eyes from a sleepless night. You threw your hair up in a knot at the top of your head, threw on minimal make up, and dressed fairly casual since it was Friday. 

When you got to work, you saw Ryan’s truck down a few spots with an empty space next to it, but you were stubborn. You parked into the first spot you saw, and got your bag out of your car. You proceeded to walk towards the office past his truck, slightly unsurprised when you see him get out. You keep walking. 

He catches up to you almost instantly, you can feel him gazing down at you, but you keep staring straight ahead of you. After a few paces, Ryan lightly puts his hand on yours, and you stop walking and turn to face him, with your eyebrows raised in annoyance. When you look at his face, his face is cool and collected, but you could tell by looking into his eyes he was slightly annoyed. 

“Can we please talk for a minute? We both know we’re early.” Ryan says. 

“What would you like to talk about?” You respond coolly. You didn’t want to talk about this at work, even though the day hasn’t started yet. 

“The fact that you keep avoiding my question as to why you don’t want to move in with me” his voice mirrors yours, and he hitches an eyebrow as he continues. “I want to actually talk about this, you know.” 

“Now really isn’t the time.” You say as you proceed to walk towards the office. 

“When will be? You keep avoiding this topic like the plague. I just don’t understand why you don’t want to talk about this.” 

“I just don’t, especially not when we’re about to work” you say, frustration seeping into your voice, and you start to sweat a little, but you know it’s not from the heat. 

He sighs out of frustration as you both enter the building. “I really don’t understand why you are being so difficult…” 

You shoot him a glare and just continue to walk to your office. While walking, you see Gavin. 

“Hey, y/n!” Gavin starts with a smile, but then he sees your face. “Wot’s wrong? Aren’t you coming into our office for a few like you do every morning?” 

“Not today, Gav” you grumble as you are looking in your purse to find the keys to your office door. 

Gavin looks at you for a few seconds, then turns to look at Ryan questioningly, who is still standing in the entrance to the building. Gavin notices his face too, and must have put two and two together, and just enters his shared office with the other hunters. 

You enter your office and close the door behind you in a huff. You completely forgot that Steffie’s post RTX vacation started today, so there was a bit of work to get done.   
You’re thankful that most of the morning work keeps you busy, but you are still stewing over this morning in the parking lot. You also feel a pang in your chest as you realize this is the first morning to go without a kiss or an “I love you” exchange, which just worsens your mood. 

Finally, lunch time rolls around, so you gather up paperwork that needs to be signed by Geoff. You managed to go the whole morning without going into the AH office, but that was probably a good thing since they were busy with trying to get ahead on recordings again.

When you finally leave the office with your purse, you notice that the on air sign is off, and you enter the AH office. 

“Heyyyyy, y/n!” Jack exclaimed excitedly when he saw you enter. “What’s going on girl?” 

“Hi, Jack” you saw with a small smile as your walk your way to Geoff’s desk. “Hey, Geoff, before lunch could you look over and sign this paper work? I need to get it back to Barbara soon.” 

“Surreee thing.” Geoff drawls as he looks over the papers. “How has the day been going for you? I know Steffie isn’t here today and Monday, are you handling things alright?”

“Fine” you say coolly, because you see Ryan glance at you out of the corner of his eyes. “I’m actually ahead of work. I was trucking through everything. How has recording been today?” 

“Good!” Michael says cheerfully. “Kicked some ass, as you know I do” he says flexing his arms. 

You give a small laugh, and notice Gavin’s expression. He keeps looking between you and Ryan, whose back is turned towards his computer. Gavin slightly tilts his head at you, as in questioning what earlier was about, but you just slightly shake your head at him. 

“Say, if you’re ahead of work, why don’t you record some stuff this afternoon with us?” Geoff asks. “I know that all the other guys are busy editing their asses off, bless their souls. So if you feel up to it-“

“No thanks, Geoff” you interrupt. “Any other day, sure, just… not today” 

Ryan quickly turns his chair to look at you. “You could take my place if you want. I don’t have to be in it” his voice almost sounds casual, but you know his voice enough to hear the bitterness. 

You narrow your eyes at him. “I’m going to lunch, guys.” And you storm out of the room, forgetting about the paper work and trying to ignore looks of confusion on all of the guys’ faces. 

As soon as the door shuts behind you, it opens again and Ryan is there with his arms crossed. “Can we please talk, y/n? This is getting slightly out of hand.” 

“No, Ryan, no we can’t.” you say acidly. “I don’t want to fucking talk about it at work!” 

“Babe, you never want to talk about it!” The anger in his voice becoming clearer. “I’ve tried to be patient and let you talk to me about it, but you won’t! If this is the only way to talk about then fine, we’re doing this!” 

“Fine! What the fuck do you want to know so damn badly?” you snap. 

“Why won’t you move in? And don’t give me that whole excuse that you need to stay at your place for the duration of your contract. I know you and I know there is more to it.”   
Ryan counters back at you. 

You feel your face pale and start to tremble. “Want to really fucking know, Haywood?” you feel yourself starting to lose it. “I’m scared, alright? I just spent the past year and a half living in the basement of my best friends’ house and I finally get a place of my own and I actually feel independent and that I don’t have to rely on others for a place to live. I finally got to the point where I could stand on my own two feet but then you came along and swept me right off of them. I never have felt this way about anyone in my damn life and I’m afraid that living together could ruin what we have right now. I love things the way they are and I don’t want to jeopardize it! I don’t want to give up something that I worked towards for a long time because I fell madly in love with you. I’m. Scared.” You feel the tears well over your cheeks. “I’m scared that as soon as I move in with you something is going to go wrong and I’m left flat on my ass.” 

Before Ryan could even process what you just said, you storm out of the building and head to your car. Tears are streaming down your face, but more out of frustration with yourself for not keeping yourself in check and able to handle that situation calmly. 

When you get into the car, your phone buzzes, and you see you have a text message from Geoff. 

“Don’t worry about the paperwork. Take the rest of the day off, hon” 

You sigh loudly. Your squabble with Ryan must have been overheard by the guys in the office. Even though you don’t want to take the rest of the day off, you assume it’s probably for the best. 

You decide to head back to your apartment to decompress. You throw your work bag on the couch as you pad your way into the bathroom. You step out of your jeans and shirt and get the hot water running in the shower. 

While you look at yourself in the mirror, you slightly cringe at what you see. The purple bags under your eyes from minimal sleep are still there from this morning, but you see that your cheeks are puffy and make up smeared from crying the drive home. You quickly rub a make up removing wipe on your face, and then jump into the shower. 

As soon as you’re in the warm water, you feel your muscles relax a little. While you let the steamy water run through your hair and down your back, you force yourself to do some serious thinking. 

Do you want to live with Ryan? Of course you do. Not only is it practical, you genuinely want to. You think of the numerous weekends at his house, and how each time you fall in love more with the place and your relationship with him. There is just a part of you that is so scared that something will happen once you move in. But even bigger than that, you’re just indecisive about leaving this little apartment that also feels like home. It seems like only a couple weeks ago you just left Caiti and Jack’s house. And now Ryan wants you to move into his place? Not only does it feel slightly sudden, you just don’t want to feel like a burden or that you are moving into *his* place. 

You shake your head of your thoughts and finish your shower. You wrap a towel around your head and throw on a pair of sweats and a shirt. When you go to the kitchen to grab a drink, you see that it’s almost 3. You walk over to where you threw your bag and pull out your phone. 

You’re almost surprised to see nothing from Ryan, but you’re more surprised by who you missed a couple texts from and a call; you immediately dial. 

“Hey, y/n!” you hear cheerfully on the other end. “Where are you, girly?” 

“Hi, Meeks” you say with a small smile. “I’m at my apartment. What are you up to?”

“Um, haven’t you read my texts?” Mica asks “I’m at the office! I decided to surprise everyone down here for a visit since I couldn’t make it to RTX this year. So why aren’t you here?   
Are you feeling okay?”

You heavily sigh. “No, I’m okay for the most part. Just…” you pause. “Has Ryan said anything to you?” 

“No, he just said that you left early for the day. He seemed to be pretty quiet during the Let’s Play today.” Your friend said. “What’s going on, lady? You sound a bit bummed.”

“Yeah, well, Ry and I kinda got into it at work today” you mumbled into the phone. 

“Not the fun kind of into it I take it” Mica replied, to which you rolled your eyes. Sometimes she was just as bad as Michael. 

“No, Meeks, not the fun kind”. 

“Well, I’m pretty much done here at the office, the guys are doing some extra recording, so do you want some company?” Mica asked. “We can get ready for the RTX after party together!” 

“Fucking shit” you swear. “I completely forgot about that until now. I really don’t feel like going.”

“Oh stop, it’ll be tons of fun. I’ll be over in a few, I’ll grab directions from Ryan” And with that Mica hung up. 

You shake your head at your phone as you move your bag off the couch and get ready for her to come over. 

 

Within 10 minutes, Mica comes up to your apartment, pulling you into a big hug and planting a kiss on your cheek. You can’t help but to laugh and smile at her. 

“Please tell me you’re not going looking like that” Mica groans as she notices your sweats and messy hair. 

“Hey, I think it’s a good look for Netflix and ordering pizza” you respond as you plop back onto the couch. 

“Woman, you’re going to that party. I’ll be your hot date.” She joked as she joins you on the couch. “But seriously, why don’t you want to go? I know you’re not a huge party girl but still. You usually like hanging with everyone from the company.” 

You tell her about the past week and how you and Ryan have talking about the moving in and you tell her about your blow up from earlier today. She listens seriously and nods occasionally as you vent about how you feel. 

After a pause, Mica speaks “I think you should move in with him soon.” Before you interrupt, she speaks over you “I said soon, not tomorrow. You still have a few months on this apartment. I say take advantage of them, and then move in with him. It gives you time to really think about what you want and to actually become committed.” 

“I don’t have commitment issues” you grumble at her. “I just don’t want to move in and have it blow up in my face” 

“That kind of wraps into your commitment issues, sweetie” Mica says gently. “Besides, it’s Ryan we’re talking about. He’s freaking crazy about you, you know. He loves you and just wants the next step for you two as a couple. And maybe that’s a bit soon for you, and that’s okay. That’s why I say take the couple of months you have left in this place, then go from there. It just seems like a compromise.”

You blush at what Mica says because you know she’s right. 

“Sooo are you going with me to the party tonight? Please? It’s the only night I’m in town and I want you see you and hang out with everyone…”Mica pleads. 

“Ugh fine, but I don’t know what I’m going to wear or do my hair or anything.” You respond. 

Mica helps you get ready. You pick out a pair of black leggings and a sparkly gold peplum top that used to be Caiti’s but she gave to you a while back. Mica puts your hair into a sock bun and does your make up. She wears a dark purple dress with a pair of chunky platform shoes. 

When you both arrive at the party together, you see that everything has gotten into full swing. You both make your way to the bar area hand in hand through the throng of dancing coworkers. At the bar, you see Michael, Lindsay and Caiti all talking with drinks in hand. 

Caiti rushes over and gives both you and Mica a warm hug. When she pulls away you see her look at you oddly, as if she’s trying to gauge how you are; Jack must have told her what occurred in the office earlier. 

Michael slaps you on the back when you approach him and hands you a glass of white wine. You take the drink gratefully and begin to sip. As you drink you let your eyes scan the party and to your disappointment, you don’t see him there. 

“He’s not here yet” Michael comments nonchalantly. You give him a quick glance out of slight annoyance. “But he did say he was going to come, so I’m sure he’ll be here any minute… Do you want to talk about it?” Michael asks, not unkindly. 

“Not really” you mumble as your cheeks grow warm. “I think I’ve done enough of that. Besides, everyone in the office heard the whole thing”. 

“Yeah, that was something” Michael agrees with a nod. “But hey. Fights happen, ya know? It’s just something you gotta face, then kiss and make up. Not a big deal.” 

“Since when do you start dishing out the love advice, Mr. Jones?” you teasingly ask with a small smile on your face. You’re surprised at how nice he’s being. 

Michael just shrugs his shoulders and finishes his beer. “What can I say? I’m a fantastic friend and you’re very lucky to have me.” 

You roll your eyes and laugh into your wine glass. It was only a matter of time before he acted like himself again. “It’s a privilege and an honor” you retort back. 

The five of your continue talking about events in the office over a few more drinks and you begin to relax and enjoy your time with your friends. They distract you from earlier events and put you in a good mood. 

A catchy song comes on and Mica blurts “Oh my god, I need to dance to this!” as she grabs your hand and you both head to the dance floor. You both dance together amongst other coworkers like Miles and Kerry who proceed to make you laugh more than dance at how terrible they were. Michael and Lindsay join your group after the next song and your spirits are even more lifted that you forget about looking around for Ryan for a while. 

After a few more songs, a slow one starts up and everyone starts pairing off. Miles decides to ask Mica for a dance, and Kerry jokingly asks Lindsay, but she laughed in agreement much to his surprise. You decide now would be a good time to catch your breath, but Michael holds out his hand to you. 

“Hey, someone whisked my wife away on me” He jokes at Kerry, who gives him a wink and thumbs up. “I got to make her jealous and want to come back to me somehow.”   
You oblige, and Michael places one hand on your waist and another into your left hand. You both simply move side to side, trying not to bump into any people. 

“You will never hear what I’m about to say out of my mouth again” Michael says after a minute of silence. 

“Oh god, what is it, Jones?” you ask.

“Don’t be so rude” Michael says as he lightly jabs your side. “I think you and Haywood make a great couple. Don’t let this argument get between you two. It’s great seeing you guys happy together… It makes me happy for you.” 

“Holy shit, Michael Jones actually cares about someone other than himself and Gavino” you say with a smirk, but you can’t help but to take his words to heart. He really is a good guy behind that loud mouth. “Thanks, Michael. Really, I appreciate that you said that”

“Yeah, we don’t get used to it” he says gruffly. 

You smile widely at the Jersey boy and give him a quick hug and continue dancing.

When the next song comes on, you feel a small pang in your chest. It’s the first song that you and Ryan danced to at your going away party months ago. 

“Do you want to dance to this one too?” Michael asks. 

“No, no it’s fine.” You say a little sadly. “Go win your wife back and dance with her. I think I’m going to sit this one out and grab another drink from the bar. 

You start worming your way through the dancing partners, slightly trying to hold back tears and looking around for Ryan. Where was he? 

And just like that, you feel someone grab your hand from behind you. When you look around, you breathe a sigh of relief. 

“Ryan” you say with a small smile. 

Ryan gently smirks back at you. “Not the exact response I was expecting. But hi, dear”

You smile widely at him and put your arms around his neck. Ryan responds and wraps his hands around your waist and you both begin to dance. 

“Look, y/n, I’m so so-“ Ryan begins. 

“Not now, Ry, let’s just finish this dance… then we talk. Promise” you say with a small smile. “I like this song.” 

Ryan does a small chuckle and kisses your forehead. “Me too, love” 

You keep dancing blissfully until the end of the song. Once it’s over, a more upbeat one starts playing. You and Ryan walk hand in hand through the crowds and exit the building. 

You both walk into the fresh air and start making your way to his truck, which is parked a little ways away. 

“So…”you begin, and then pause, out of nerves. 

“So?” Ryan prompts, looking down at you with a slight eyebrow raised. 

“So.” You say with a small smile, remember a conversation that started out similar to this. “I’ve been thinking about the argument from earlier. We now know what we both think on the matter.” 

“Sweetheart, I don’t care about any of that anymore.” Ryan interrupts. “If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. I’m not going to force you to do something you’re not ready for. I’m just glad you finally told me why instead of avoiding it. We don’t have to talk about it again until you’re comfortable. I’m sorry for forcing that conversation at work. I apologize.” 

“I’m sorry too, but I am ready to talk about it. Really I am” you assure him. “Honestly, I thought about it a lot today when I was getting ready for the party. I want us to work out.   
For as long as we possibly can” You can with a smile. “I just need a little more time before I get rid of my apartment.” 

“That’s perfectly fair, love” Ryan says as he leans down and kisses your cheek. 

“Well, I’m not really done.” You say. “I just want to also say that once my lease is up, I do want to move in with you.” 

Ryan stops walking and turns to look at you. “Really? You’re not just saying that, are you, y/n?”

“Really, Ry.” 

Before you can say anything else, Ryan’s lips are on top of yours and you’re practically lifted off the ground. Through the kiss, you laugh a little at his enthusiasm. 

“I’ve missed you all day. I wanted to come over to your apartment as soon as work was done, but I knew you probably wanted your own and that Mica was going to go.” Ryan explained. 

“I’ve missed you , too” you pulled in for another kiss, but there was another reason for this kiss, and Ryan responded more than willingly. 

After all, the best thing about fighting is all the makeup sex you get to have, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, lovely readers! I know it's taken me WAY too long to get this chapter up. It's been a bit of a fiasco for me. For a while after the last chapter, I was very unsure on how I wanted this story to go on for. I have certain things I want to write about but I wasn't sure of an order and if there were other things I could/should include. I finally have more of an idea in line, at least for the near future.   
> Getting this chapter written has been hell though, I must admit. I had to redo it twice because I wasn't satisfied with it, then one day I had a really good idea and wrote a solid majority of it it, but I lost it all when my computer randomly died. I became extremely frustrated and couldn't even look at my stories for a little while there. I kept trying to remember what I had, but to no avail. So, I just cleared my mind and then wrote what you have just read.   
> I cannot express how sorry I am about how long it took for me to get this up here. I will try extremely hard in the future to not take nearly as long. I will also keep you all updated in the comments of my most recent chapters from time to time if it will take me an unreasonable amount of time again.   
> I also am deeply grateful to all of you who have stuck around and have cared enough about this series to ask me about it and when I was going to continue. I never thought this would really stick out among other fic writers. I'm truly honored. Thank you all so very much and there will be more to come in the near future! :)


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